Witches Fire
by thatblindbandit
Summary: Hex is a new monster in school, and on top of worrying about boyfriends, finals and parties, she has to find and protect a lost witch from rouge vampires with a taste for magical blood. Will she choose the right guy? Can she keep her identity a secret from the mortals? And will her nightmares become her reality? I only wrote Hex, nothing else is mine. Review and I'll post more!
1. First Day At School

Hex

CHAPTER 1

I slammed by locker shut and studied my new class schedule. Beginners Potions first, great. If only there was a decent potions class open to eleventh graders. Unfortunately the beginner's course would have to do; what would we be learning? How to distinguish between the different species of frog eggs? Grandma would be so displeased.

I turned the corner and accidentally spilled my thermos of blood onto a pretty girl with white hair.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention, listen that'll come out with-" I stopped when I noticed she was laughing.

"Hey no problem, you didn't even get any on me." She smiled. It was then that I noticed the faint shimmer of light radiating off her hair, and if I focused, I could see the hallway behind her through her pretty white dress.

"Thank the goddess, you're a ghost." I laughed too. She smiled kindly.

"Yeah, my name's Spectra. What's yours? I've never seen you around here before, and I know everyone here. You're new."

"It's Hex." I said as I knelt to wipe up the spilled blood with a tissue. "And yeah I'm new here."

"Cool. If you need someone to show you around, that's Draculara over there in the pink. She's a vampire too, and she just loves meeting new bloodsuckers."

"But I'm not- "

"Sorry to hit and run, but I've got Home Ick now and the professor hates if we're late. See you at lunch Hex?"

"Sure thing!" I called after her as she floated away. I sighed. Making friends was going to be hard. I headed over to the girl Spectra had pointed out, Draculara. She was standing with a girl and a boy, both with huge manes of dark brown hair and mocha skin. The dark haired girl nudged Draculara as I approached. She whirled around.

"Hi! I'm Draculara." She spoke with a thick Transylvanian accent. "This is my boyfriend Clawd and my best friend Clawdeen."

"I'm Hex. Spectra said-"

"I wouldn't take what Spectra says to heart, she's a notorious gossip." Said Clawdeen. Her accent was from New York. Draculara nodded.

"-That you're a vampire." I finished.

"Oh well that's true yes." Draculara said. "I'm a vampire and Clawdeen and her brother are werewolves." I nodded. I'd met vampires before, and a few werewolves, but that was a long time ago, I'd certainly never met one who wore 6inch platform heels. I looked down at my Doc Martens. They had a wedge on them, but nothing as tall as Clawdeen was wearing. Maybe that was the New York in her.

"So what are you?" Clawd asked politely in the same Brooklyn accent as his sister.

"He means other than off the charts sexy." A boy with copper coloured skin and flaming red hair joined the group on blue roller skates. "Cause baby, you're making me _hot._" His hair literally caught fire and his eyes glowed a dark red. I startled, and the group laughed.

"Cool down Heath, can't you go one minute without hitting on the new girl?" Clawd shoved him playfully. I laughed nervously.

"The name, milady is Burns, Heath Burns." He extended his hand. I took it, being cautious of any more fire, and he brought it to his lips and kissed it. I blushed furiously; I wouldn't have given him my hand if I'd known he'd do that.

"Heath!" Draculara squealed. "Try to be a little more normal?"

"Yeah get lost Burns." Clawd growled. "You'll scare her off."

"No, no it's okay." I smiled encouragingly. "Believe me, it's nothing." Draculara raised an eyebrow at me.

"Well damn, new girl's a Brit." Clawdeen said, noting my accent. I turned to Heath.

"But do try and learn a lady's name before you try to court her." His eyebrows wiggled mischievously. "Mine's Hex."

"Now get lost creep before we sic Clawdeen on you." Draculara said.

"Hey!" Clawdeen yelped. "Maybe I sic _you_ on him! You could go all fangzilla!"

"You know I don't drink blood!" They started to argue, as Heath slunk away, but not without giving me one last wink.

"Come on, lets' ditch these two." Clawd said. "I'll show you where your first class is. What do you have?" He led me down the hallway.

"Um, Beginners Potions." I couldn't help making a face. He laughed.

"Just wait until you get to Advanced. It gets worse." I sighed; the Expert class was what I had my eye on, but there was no way I'd get in this year. "So, why carry around a thermos of blood if you're not a vampire?" I stopped.

"I-uh,"

"Just a question," he smiled.

"How did you-?" I stammered.

"Know? Which, that you're not a vampire; or that you've got a cup of AB+ in your hand."

"Both."

"Easy." He touched a finger to his nose. "Werewolf senses. Clawdeen probably picked up on it too. At first I thought it was Draculara, but then I remembered; she doesn't drink it. So I figured it had to be you. Why do you have it?" He didn't ask in a mean way, but I still felt embarrassed.

"It's not mine. I mean it is mine, but it's not _mine. _I mean it's for Potions."

"You don't need blood in Beginners Potions." My shoulders slumped. I was so bad at high school.

"Ugh, you'll think it's stupid."

"Try me." Clawd smiled kindly. I took a deep breath and explained.

"I'm really good at potions, my Grandma's been teaching me for ages-literally-and I can't get into a better potions class, so I thought maybe if I showed the teacher what I can do, he'd consider bumping me up. It's really nerdy I know, but I just don't want to spend all year in a class that I can't learn anything from." I looked up at him. Clawd was looking at me incredulously.

"You're that good?"

"Definitely." I didn't want to be brag, but Grandma was the best. Learning from her made me pretty good as well.

"Well I hope it works. Potions is the hardest class here at Monster High, but if you're that good, maybe they'll let you skip." He shrugged. "Hey! Then we could be in the same class!"

"Yeah," I said, thankful he didn't think I was a freak. "It would be nice to have a friend in class."

'I'll introduce you to the guys after class." He said as we arrived at the door labeled _Mr. Venom: Potions. _"Draculara and Clawdeen are in this class too, they'll introduce you to the girls."

"Thanks Clawd." I said as I went to turn the door handle.

"Hey no problem Ms…. What did you say your last name was again?"

"I didn't. And it's Harmon. Hex Harmon."

"Harmon? But that's…" I turned and closed the door behind me just as the bell rang for the start of class. I found Draculara and Clawdeen in the back row. They'd finished their little fight and had saved me a seat. I sat down gratefully and let my mind drift as the teacher passed out textbooks and began to drone on about the importance of measuring ingredients correctly. I hoped Clawd didn't think too long on my last name. While it might ring a bell in his head, I didn't want him snooping around in my family history until I was ready to tell the group. Making friends is hard enough without being a witch, and a Harmon witch too. I didn't want anybody asking me personal questions until I was ready to answer them.

"Pssst." I looked over. Draculara whispered to me, "I'm having a sleepover at my place tomorrow. Ask your parents if you can come? We'd really like to have you." She was so nice! No wonder Spectra had referred me to her.

"Sure, I'll ask. Thanks. Who's going to be there?"

"Me, Clawdeen, Frankie, Abbey and Lagoona if she can make it. I'll introduce you when he's done the lecture." She made a face and wrote on a scrap of paper, which she handed to me. "Here, it's mine and Clawdeen's iCoffin numbers. Text me when you know okay?" We swapped numbers.

"Sure thing! Thanks!" I whispered back. Not even two hours at this place and I've already made two girlfriends, one guy friend and a dude that's crushing on me. Although, that last one didn't really count, maybe Grandma was right, maybe all I needed was a little companionship.


	2. Surprise Phone Call

CHAPTER 2

"Hey Grandma I'm home from school!" I called out as I opened the front door. Our house is an old one, a family heirloom you might say. It's got that old Victorian style to it, with great white columns on the front steps and great winding staircases inside. I love it, I wish we'd lived here when I was little; the house probably has hundreds of secrets that only a kid could find. All the locks are outdated and useless, but it doesn't matter. There are wards buried in the front and back yards and charms placed on all the windows. Grandma and I did them together when we moved in, working from the inside out as is custom.

We start inside with various spells and charms to banish any creatures that might have already made homes here. The spells get them out, and then we make wards to keep them away. Nobody can enter the house from the outside unless escorted by Grandma or I. And vampires have to be invited in. It's a little old fashioned, but as I'm the youngest at 562 years old, we tend to stick to old-fashioned customs. I don't even want to know how old Grandma is; she hasn't aged a day since I was born. Literally. She chose to stop the aging process on my birthday. She had a vision that I would need to be taken care of, and she didn't want to take any chances. Witches can choose to stop and start aging. It takes a bit of work to mix the right potion, and you' better get it right.

"Grandma?" I called up the stairs. No reply.

_She's probably in the basement. _We set up a workplace downstairs. It's well hidden and well protected, but I suspected that Grandma had snuck in a few extra enchantments to keep me out of the really dangerous and confidential work she had going on.

I was on my way to the stairs when I saw a note on the hearth.

"_Hex, gone to a Confederation Meeting. Back late. Make yourself some dinner and rent a movie. I can't wait to hear all about your first day! Love G."_ I read out loud. So I was alone in the big white house, not bad. I watched some TV and thought about ways to tell my new friends that I'm a witch.

_I could whip up a potion to make them like me if it went wrong. I'd just use Lavender instead of Rosemary in the Amour powder. _I shoved that thought aside, my brain already making the calculations._ Nah, better not use magic to make them like me. If it went wrong and they found out I'd charmed them… I'd have to transfer out of Monster High. _

A beeping noise interrupted my thoughts. My iCoffin lit up and vibrated on the coffee table. Curiously, I answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Hex?" A boy's voice sounded in my ear.

"Yes this is she, can I trouble you for your name good sir?"

"Oh, yeah right. It's Clawd, I got your number from Draculara?" He sounded nervous.

"Oh hey Clawd." I said, my curiosity level rose. "What's up?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just, I was doing some research in the school library and I found something weird."

"Oh?" My blood turned to ice. "Like what?" I fought to keep my breathing normal.

"Did you say your last name is Harmon? Maybe I heard it wrong." His voice sounded unnatural. I swallowed hard.

"No, no you're right. Hex Harmon. Why?"

"It's just, I found some really…interesting stuff on your family and I wanted –"

"Clawd?" I asked nervously. "Why don't you come over? I'll answer whatever questions you have, that way you don't have to snoop around on the Internet for information about my family." I'd sounded harsher than I meant to.

"Oh, uh, sure I guess." Clawd said awkwardly. "Listen I didn't mean any harm, I only recognized the name so I just wanted to be sure – "

"I know. I live at 23 Abbot Drive, can you make it?"

"Sure, sure. I'll be there in like half an hour?" He sounded more comfortable now.

"Sounds perfect. Just text me when you arrive, I'll let your car in the gate." I hung up, my hands shaking.

_Oh goddess, what am I going to do?_ I thought. _You're going to tell him what he wants to know, within reason of course. You can keep safe what you like, just give him enough info to satisfy him. _

"Goddess." I whispered. Then I ran upstairs to my bedroom to get ready.


	3. Unexpected Visitor

CHAPTER 3

Half an hour was not a lot of time. My plan was to answer Clawd's questions honestly, and then tell the group everything tomorrow. I didn't want to hide anything from them, but I did want to be able to choose what I shared. I certainly didn't want Spectra listening if she was as gossipy as Clawdeen said. I needed a distraction though; from the things I wasn't going to tell him. I needed something to take his mind off the blanks in my story, and what better distraction for a man is there than a woman's body? I would never actually do anything to Clawd to steal him from Draculara, but if a little shine on my part was what it took to control the truth, then shine up I would.

Witches are never bad looking; in fact they're almost always drop dead gorgeous. I was no exception, and everywhere I went mortal boys would drop their jaws or leave their girlfriends just to look at me. Witch blood is the key ingredient in any decent love potion, which only adds to our appeal. No mortal can look upon a witch and not steal a second glance. Mortal boy's minds are soft and easily corrupted. Monster boys tend to have a higher tolerance, but some fall for the spell. I'd already spent enough time with Clawd to know he wouldn't just up and leave Draculara for me, but that didn't mean he didn't like to look. I was just going to give him a little extra to look at.

I swapped my purple t-shirt and jeans for a black lace top with a low scoop neck and sleeves that started below the shoulder. I chose a darker wash, skinnier leg jean and even opted for a push-up bra, just to seal the deal. I pulled my thick ebony coloured hair down from its beehive and ran a little volume mousse through it. My hair is long, just past elbow length, straight and black as night. It offered cool contrast to my pale cream coloured skin. I gave my eyelashes a good curl and swathed my lips in my very best ruby red lipstick. My violet eyes stood out against my white skin and black hair, my favorite quality. My mother had eyes like this, and so does my Grandma; they're the signature purple colour for the Harman family. I smiled at my reflection in the mirror. _I am definitely going to blow the socks off that poor boy._

With five minutes until Clawd said he'd arrive, I raced down to the main floor, and dimmed all the lights. I lit the fireplace in the front entry and the one in the living room. I put a pot of tea on and even managed to send Grandma a quick text.

"_Hey Grandma, had a great first day. Having a friend over for an hour or so this evening, don't be alarmed. Don't hurry at your meeting, good luck. Love you, H." _My iCoffin beeped as it sent.

"_Hi Hex, it's Clawd. Can you open your front gate?"_

"_Sure thing, on my way." _I replied back. I needed to physically open the gate doors in order to bring guests into the estate. I hurried down the walk towards Clawd's headlights. I unbolted the lock and let his truck in. He parked just behind my car, a small red coup I'd gotten for my 560th birthday. I smiled as he got down from the drivers seat.

"Nice place." He said awkwardly.

"Thanks." I led him to the front door.

"I didn't know you'd have to actually move the gate, I could've done that, you shouldn't have walked all the way out there." He said.

"You wouldn't have been able to move it. There's a ward on it to keep strangers out." Clawd's eyes revealed nothing. "Old habits die hard I guess." I finished easily. I opened the door and gestured him through. As he stepped into the front entryway, I slipped in behind him and helped him remove his coat, hung it in the closet and turned to face him, giving him full view of my "shine."

"Wow. You look great. Were you wearing that to school today?"

"Under a jacket." I lied easily.

"You didn't get too warm?" Clawd realized he was staring and blinked hard. "Sorry." He averted his eyes. I led him to the sitting room.

"Grab a seat and get cozy Clawd." I said. "Do you want some tea? Or anything else to drink?"

"I'd love some tea thanks." He said, sitting in the loveseat. Perfect.

I steeped two cups of green tea and added a sprig of thyme to his. Thyme is an herb used in potions and other charms to soothe the mind. Technically it's not magical, but it's still effective. The sprig I put in Clawd's tea would help him lose the awkwardness of prying into my family and let him relax, it's helpful not hurtful. Technically.

I returned with the tea and sat down next to Clawd, watching his eyes scan my entire body, hovering in certain areas and returning to my face. He must have noticed me watching, because he kept apologizing for staring. He tore his gaze away from the tops of my breasts, my pale skin shining in the lighting. I began to think maybe I'd overdone it a little bit and regretted giving him the thyme tea. Oh well, no stopping it now.

"So," He cleared his throat and forced his eyes to meet mine. This might have been a good strategy but for their alluring violet shade. He settled for staring into his tea mug. "Ahem, I was in the school library today, because when you mentioned your last name, it sounded so familiar. I don't mean any disrespect and I certainly don't want to pry, but is what I read true?"

"Well that all depends, Clawd, what did you read?"

"Are you…is this," He gestured randomly in the air. My heart thudded in my chest. He took a big breath and met my eyes. "Are you a witch?"

I had to drop my gaze. He tried to say it nicely, but there was accusation in his voice. "Hex?"

"Yes." I whispered, making my decision. "Yes, I am a witch. A Harmon no less." I said louder, I could hear the pride in my words and I hoped her heard it too. I looked and saw that Clawd was pale, almost as white as me, and that his breathing was quick.

"Drink your tea." I said. He looked at the mug skeptically. I rolled my eyes. "Drink it, it's fine I promise." The thyme would do him good. He took a sip and I saw the muscles in his face start to relax.

"I suppose you're wondering now, who am I exactly? Where did I come from? How did I get here?" Clawd nodded, meeting my eyes, his expression softened.

"But you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to." He said generously.

"No I do. Start with your questions." I smiled what was supposed to be encouragingly, but was I thought a little too forced to pull off the expression.

"Well, how old are you?"

"In real years or…?"

"In real years."

"I have 562 years. 563 in January." I began to feel uncomfortable. I should've put some thyme in my own tea.

"I'm 18." Clawd smiled. "And Draculara just celebrated her Sweet 1600." I laughed; age is so weird in the monster world.

"Where are you from?" He asked politely.

"Originally? I was born in London England in 1450. But I've moved around a lot since. I've lived in Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Russia, India and now Canada. But we're planning on staying here for a while. At least until I graduate."

"Why did you move around so much?" I bit my lip. "I'm sorry if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay." I shook my head.

"Witch Hunts." I said softly. Clawd 's face was set. I knew this is what he'd really come to hear, and I knew it would be what the gang at school would want to know too. "They used to hunt us, everywhere. It was especially bad for my family. They'd string us up on trees, tie us to burning stakes and torture us. We fled."

"How did you escape?"

"Not many of us did." My expression darkened. We were getting into what I promised I wouldn't talk about, and I intended to keep that promise. I pushed a lock of raven black hair off my shoulder, exposing my left shoulder and leaned across Clawd for the picture of Big Ben being built. While the photograph was cool, the purpose of this stretch wasn't for the memory, but to guide Clawd's focus away from the conversation and down my shirt. He took the bait. I could feel him inhale deeply, taking the scent of my hair and relishing in it. He didn't even look at the picture when I showed it to him; his eyes bugged and travelled the length of my body.

"That's why witches are so rare these days, we prefer to keep a low profile. But Grandma's working on bringing us out into the open, at least within the monster community."

"How can she do that?" He swallowed hard, his eyes on my lips.

"I thought you knew. She's the Crone. The eldest Harman is always the Crone, and witches love tradition."

"What is the Crone exactly? We did something about her in History of Magic last year, but I can't remember."

I thought about this for a moment.

"She's our leader, like a queen, or… the alpha male. The Harmon family has always had strong magical abilities, and her being the oldest and the Crone, makes her the most powerful witch on earth. " I added proudly. He looked at me in amazement.

"So, you can do magic?"

"Sure. I already told you I'm really good at potions, Grandma's been tutoring me for my whole life." I looked down into my empty tea mug. "She's very firm about my mastering of the magical arts. During the Great Exodus, lots of witches had to stop using magic to keep from being discovered. Some families swore it off entirely in an effort to survive. With time, many families forgot their magical heritage and became Lost. I bet there are a few kids at the mortal high school who are Lost."

"What does 'Lost' mean?" He asked curiously. I sighed.

"You have to understand, back then, when mortals were hunting and torturing us, being a witch was really dangerous. Many of the lower class families denied their heritage for so long, they forgot themselves. They grew old and died like mortals. Their descendants are considered Lost. They have witches blood, though often diluted through the ages; they can re-awaken their magic. The only problem is they don't know anything about who they are or what they can do. And tracking them down tree-by-tree is almost impossible. Even if you could find one, bringing back witches blood is an extremely risky and painful experience. It's a tragic thing, to be Lost."

"That sounds horrible." Clawd whispered. He put a hand on my leg, which was intended to be comforting, but he'd placed it on my upper thigh whether by accident or as part of the spell I couldn't be sure. He held my gaze for a moment before realizing what he'd done.

"Oh my God. I am so sorry." He pulled his hand away and moved away from me on the loveseat. I hadn't noticed, but he'd moved closer to me as the evening went on, until we were sharing one of the two cushions. I wondered what would have happened if he didn't snap out of it.

"Draculara." He murmured to himself. "I'm really sorry I did that, I didn't come here with the intention to – "

"Hey, don't worry about it, you can't help it." I shrugged, bouncing my breasts ever so slightly.

"I, uh, what?" He stammered.

"You can't help it. Don't feel bad, you've been doing really well." I repeated, trying to soothe his awkwardness.

"I am?" He looked pleased for a moment then snapped back. "Hey, wait. I've been doing well at what?"

"Not succumbing to me." I said simply. His face paled. "Don't worry! I haven't done anything; I would never! You can't help but be attracted to me. I know exactly what you're feeling right now, and I know it's especially hard for you, being a werewolf and all." I sighed, giving up the game.

He rumpled his hair. "God. I am so sorry, it's just, you're really hot and I'm totally turned on by you. But I swear, I never had anything other than a conversation in mind when you invited me over here. Okay maybe I had teensy little thought, but don't get me wrong, I would never, ever cheat on Draculara." I laughed.

"No, no, you don't understand. It's not your fault you feel that way. Witch blood is spiked with love potion. Literally. You can't help but be attracted to me, and your werewolf side is probably going nuts right now. In fact if this was a full moon…" I wiggled my eyebrows and Clawd growled. He slapped a hand over his mouth and turned bright red. I laughed again. "But now that it's out in the open, it'll be easier. You saw what happened with Heath today at school. Another five minutes and he would've been drooling. We've been talking for almost an hour, how you're acting right now is impressive.

"Yeah." He didn't seem convinced.

"I would never put you under a spell Clawd. The goddess as my fire I will never enchant you. And I think you should know, I didn't wear this outfit to school today." He gave me an odd look but I continued. "I may have wanted to see how far I could push you," I said slowly, gauging his reaction. He raised an eyebrow at me.

"You playing with my mind witch?" He teased. I smiled, happy that he wasn't angry.

"Hey, you passed." I said with a laugh. "Isn't that nice to know? And now that you know I'm a witch, you can be a little more on your guard at school. Soon I'll be able to do this-" I placed my hand on the centre of his chest and pushed him into the leather arm of the sofa, leaning forward with him and straddling his waist. "-And you won't feel a thing." His breathing was rapid and I could see his nipples poking the inside of his shirt. I relaxed and fell back into my seat. "Guess we're not there yet." I smirked.

"I guess not." Clawd said, mussing his hair. "Right, well, it's getting late, thanks for…everything." He stood up and led me to the front door. I handed him his letterman jacket and opened the door.

"Hey Hex?" He said just as I was closing the door.

"Yeah?"

"You're really good you know. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I think the gang will really love you."

"Oh I know they will. They have to, remember?" I said playfully.

"No I mean, genuinely love you. I'm sorry for poking around in your family's business. Thanks for being so great about it."

"Anytime Clawd." His eyes slid from my face again. "Tell Draculara I said hi." I added smiling at his blush.

I shut the door behind me and smiled to myself. I'd finally met someone who could handle a one on one conversation with me without turning into a lapdog! I'd been totally charming, even borderline slutty and he'd gotten out alive and what's more, with his dignity. That made me so happy, werewolves had been known to, let their inner beast get the best of them, but Clawd remained faithful to his girlfriend. I raced upstairs and washed my face, threw on a pair of boxer shorts, a t-shirt and settled down with some popcorn to watch a movie. I was asleep in minutes.


	4. Nightmares

I was running barefoot as fast as I could. I heard screaming all around me, people calling for their loved ones. Men were marching through the streets carrying torches, houses were burning and debris was falling from the sky. I couldn't see my parents, I didn't know where I was going, but I knew I had to get there fast. I man jumped in front of me and grabbed my arm, shaking it mercilessly.

"Hex Harmon." He said, his eyes black as coal and his mouth full of blood. I screamed as he threw me to the ground. "Get up Hex." He taunted me. I tried to conjure fire, but I was too shaken up. He bent down and forced my head back, exposing my neck. I watched in horror as he wet his lips and traced the shape of my throat with his fingernail. He smiled a terrible smile that exposed his fangs, and I braced myself for what was about to happen.

My own screaming awakened me; my eyes flew open. I was back in my living room, the fire burning low in the hearth. Grandma was standing over me looking concerned.

"You okay pumpkin? Looked like you were having a nightmare." Her big purple eyes were fearful.

"Yeah, I'm okay Grandma. How was your meeting?" I said, trying to distract my mind from the scene I'd just left.

"Oh it was fine. Nothing major was decided, the vampires are still feuding with the werewolves, and they want more blood banks distributed around the country. Apparently it's getting too difficult to take blood from mortals without being discovered. I guess it makes sense, but honestly where do they think the extra blood will come from? And the zombies! Don't even get me started. Nobody knows what they want because the translator was absent tonight."

I let her prattle on about Zombie Rights Activists for a while. I was concerned about my nightmare. The dream felt oddly familiar, but I couldn't place where it was from. Maybe I'd had it before; for a long time after my parents died I had nightmares that I could never remember when I woke up. Grandma said I would shake around in my sleep so much; we tried brewing calming potions and sleep syrups. They only kept me under to endure the night terrors.

"Yeah sounds great Grandma." I interrupted her story. "I'm dead beat, I'm going to bed. Will I see you in the morning?" I got up and started walking to the stairs.

"Not so fast. What's this about having a friend over? Who was it? What did you do? Was it a boy?"

"Yeah, I had a friend over. He recognized our last name and I invited him over to explain some things. I didn't want him to make stuff up about us and spread it around the school, so I set him right. Don't look at me like that, I didn't use any magic."

"He?" She smiled, amused. I'm nearly 600 years old, Grandma doesn't have to tip toe over the sex issue anymore; she just wants to make sure I don't get hurt.

"Yes Grandma, 'He.' But nothing happened. He has a girlfriend, one of my friends now, and… you know I tested him a bit." I said nonchalantly.

"Tested him?" She suppressed a smile. "In the art of what exactly?"

"Grandma! Not like _that, _I just wanted to know how much 'witch' he could stand up to. I didn't use any magic, but I shined up a bit, and he… well he struggled, but he managed." I smiled, smug.

Grandma looked impressed. "How much did you polish up?"

"Meh, I didn't pull out all the stops, just a nice outfit and a little lipstick." I shrugged. "But he did well."

Grandma smiled. "Well I'm glad you're making friends Hex, you deserve it. Instead of all the boys that hang around, it'd be nice if you could bring a couple girlfriends by. What other kinds of monsters did you meet?"

"Um, a vampire girl named Draculara, a werewolf girl named Clawdeen and her brother Clawd. He's the boy who was here today. Some flame-boy Heath Burns and a ghost girl named Spectra."

"A flame-boy?" She asked doubtfully.

"I don't know what he was exactly, but when he saw me, his hair lit on fire. So I call him flame-boy."

"Hmm well be careful, don't knock the socks too far off those boys, but do bring home a little arm candy."

"Night Grandma!" I called as I walked away.

"Remember tomorrow we're doing Jewelry Making, so be home by dinner okay?"

"Okay! Goodnight, love you!" I shouted down the stairs.

I switched off the light and climbed into bed, feeling like a little kid as I wrapped myself into a blanket burrito. Sleep came easily to me that night, the nightmare was gone from my mind and I was ready to relax.


	5. Wiccecraeft 101

CHAPTER 5

As the sun peeked out from behind the mountains and the birds began their dawn chorus, my eyes opened and I awakened, feeling as if I'd slept for centuries. I stretched and looked around my room; one of my favorite parts of living in an old Victorian style house was the bedroom. Mine was massive, the size of a penthouse suite with great tall windows facing east which let the sunrise spill into the room. I had a gigantic four-poster bed, two cedar wardrobes and fantastic vanity; a desk with a great mirror above it that was covered in makeup and hair supplies all on a raised platform taking up half the room. The other half had a sitting area, complete with a loveseat and wood burning fireplace, and the en-suite bathroom.

I yawned and made my way to my shower peeling off my pajamas as I went. The hot water felt great on my skin and I hummed a little song to myself as I scrubbed my hair.

_Give me your eyes for just a minute_

_I will not let you down_

_We can play hide and seek_

_As long as you speak_

_Of my name on your way out_

I turned the shower off and dried my skin. I stood naked in front of the mirror, and inspected my body. It looked fine to me, witches don't grow hair on their legs or anywhere expect on their head. I have eyebrows and eyelashes obviously, but they require almost no maintenance. I patted my face with some moisturizer and looked down at my feet. I could stand to redo my toenail polish, but it wasn't a priority. I rubbed some shining lotion into my hair, my own invention; it was made with calf's cream and egg whites, mixed with under ripe buttercup blossoms and the heart of a vanilla plant. It would've been a pretty harmless concoction except I that I'd heated it with witches fire and now, mine would make the hair on Pantene adds look dry.

One of the many advantages to waking up with the sun is that I always have hours to get ready. For millennia, witches have harnessed the power of the sun and moon to gain the energy and power necessary to perform their craft. As a result, we need very little sleep, so waking up and 5am isn't the struggle it would be for Draculara, who probably finds it difficult waking up in the day anyway.

I let my hair soak in the potion for half an hour, and then hopped back in the shower for a quick cold rinse. Once all trace of the goo was gone, I blow-dried my hair and donned a fluffy white bathrobe. I put on my makeup slowly, taking time to coat every lash in black mascara and making sure my skin was the same even shade of ivory.

A heard a knock on my door, and my Grandma walked in moment later.

"Good morning Hex, I thought I heard the shower on in here."

"Grandma!" I spun around, folding my arms over my chest. "You're supposed to let me answer the door before you come in!"

"Well you're decent, so I guess we have nothing to worry about then. Anyway I just wanted to tell you that you have a phone call from a boy downstairs."

"What?" I said, surprised. "You're joking."

"Nope, see for yourself. He said his name's Clawd Wolf? He must be the werewolf boy from last night. I thought you said he did well against your-"

"I did." I interrupted, my brain whirring. "I mean he did. Yeah he was great, I wonder what he wants that couldn't wait until school. What time is it?"

"6am."

"Weird."

"You did have two showers." Grandma said, misunderstanding me. I hurried down the stairs and picked up the phone.

"Hey, sorry to keep you waiting Clawd, it's me, Hex."

"Oh hi Hex, no I wasn't waiting long." He said groggily.

"Did you just wake up or something?" I laughed. "You sound half-asleep."

"Yeah, I read that witches wake up at dawn, so I knew you'd be awake."

"Right. What do you need?"

"Oh yeah, right. I was wondering what you're doing after school." He yawned.

"Um, I guess I'm just coming home, my Grandma and I are supposed to be making jewelry…"

'Great!" He brightened. "Do you think after school you'd like to hang out, just for a little while?"

"Clawd," I started slowly. "About last night. I'm really sorry, I never should have…you know, pushed you. I don't want to start any trouble with Draculara…"

"No, you misunderstand," Clawd, said quickly. "I don't mean like, a date or anything like that, I just want you to meet some of the guys…and…' He trailed off. "Actually never mind, it's kind of silly."

"No let me hear!" I said, glad he wasn't trying to make a move.

"I was wondering if you would help me help out a friend. My best friend Deuce just broke up with his girlfriend, Cleo deNile and he's really upset about it. I was thinking, maybe you could cheer him up, you know?" He said nervously.

"I'm not casting any spells on him or her." I said firmly.

"No, I don't mean… look, yesterday, you really helped me. I mean, now I know how much I truly care for Draculara. Not doing anything with you, despite how I may have imagined it, made me realize just how much I respect and need her. She wants to get more serious, and I was scared about that, but I'm not anymore. I have much more confidence in myself as a faithful boyfriend and I have you to thank. "

"I don't know Clawd, it seems a little risky. Especially if I'm not going to date Deuce, I shouldn't lead him on."

"I'm not asking you to lead him on, just flirt a little, show him he's not worthless, that there are other girls for him besides Cleo. Help me get him back on his feet."

I sighed. "I'll think about it okay? I'll meet your friends after school, but I don't know if I can help you. I don't want to get a bad rep before my first week is over."

Clawd laughed. "Yeah you're right. After all, people usually expect witches to be goody goodies."

"Fine. I'll do it." I growled. "But if anyone asks, this was your idea. What if this Cleo gets mad at me?"

"Then I'll tell her I told you to do it. No harm done." He paused. "Will you really?"

"Yeah sure. So, on a scale of one to ten, just how rocked does Deuce's world need to be?"

"I'd say a three." Clawd laughed. "We don't want to injure the boy."

"Okay, I shall dress accordingly. Beware boys of Monster High, Hex is on the move."

I hung up and raced back upstairs. I'd planned to wear jeans and a hoodie today, but that outfit wouldn't impress anyone. I'd seen what Clawdeen had been wearing yesterday, and nobody had noticed anything special about her. So I'd have to step it up if I was going to get Deuce over this Cleo deNile.

I threw open my wardrobe and pulled out several outfits. I laid them all out on the floor and examined each one individually. I picked up a red dress with an open back, turned it around in my hand and put it back in the wardrobe. Too sexy. Maybe for a school dance or a party, but not for a Tuesday school day. I settled on cream coloured cashmere sweater that was cropped to just above my belly button, and a pair of navy blue short shorts. I pulled up half of my hair into my signature bouffant and let the rest fall over my shoulders. I added a black cat-eye to my makeup and slipped my feet into black strappy wedges. Not as tall as those Clawdeen wore, but I didn't need to be six feet tall to pull off this look. I stood in front of my wardrobe mirror and modeled my outfit. I laughed when I pictured Heath's reaction to me this morning. I liked dressing up, getting my shine on. I coated my lips in a wine red colour instead of my usual ruby shade.

"You look marvelous Hex." Grandma said as I came downstairs. "Just be careful okay? If I get a call from the Headless Mistress about any shenanigans on school property..."

"Don't worry Grandma, I'll make sure they all happen at least 25ft off school land." I joked. My Grandmother is so cool.

"Good. Well then, hurry up and eat your breakfast. It's already 7 o'clock, and I want to teach you a little about various precious metals before you leave. "

I gulped down my eggs and toast as quickly as I could, then followed Grandma into the basement. The basement of the house is specially designed for witchcraft. There's a potions room, with shelves and shelves of ingredients, a library full of everything you could ever want to know about magic. I'm pretty sure even Grandma hasn't read all of those books. There's a room just beside the potions lab with a few work desks, the kind you'd see in an artist's studio, and about a gazillion dissection tools. This is where we can make enchanted jewelry. There are rooms especially dedicated to black magic; clay and doll making equipment; mortals call them voodoo dolls; books for the darkest kinds of spells and potions, it's also where we keep the more dangerous ingredients. Stuff that's really hard to get, only witches in Circle Midnight practice that stuff. Grandma is the Crone of all witches, so she doesn't really have a Circle, but I'm Circle Twilight.

There are three Circles, Dusk, Twilight and Midnight. Witches in Circle Dusk are usually just beginners. You can move up a circle if you like, but most witches stay in Circle Twilight. The magic that goes on in Midnight is really gruesome. It's illegal for any non-midnight witch to practice any of those spells. I've been thinking of moving up a Circle, but Grandma has a lot more to teach me about Twilight magic. Some aspects of Twilight magic blends into Midnight magic. We don't do any dolls, but enchanted jewelry is pretty dark. It requires a lot of ingredients from the Midnight labs.

Buying this stuff is tricky, even for Grandma. You have to know where to look, and who to talk to. There's a mortal pharmacy in this town that's owned by a witch. Circle Twilight. Her name is Morgana. She has ingredients and equipment in the back of her store, but you have to know what to ask for, and you have to prove you're a witch. Witches are different than other monsters in that we prefer to remain hidden in mortal and monster society. All witches carry a black rose with them, mine is a ring carved from a single piece of onyx. It was my mothers. I wear it everywhere.

Grandma selected two books for me, both almost as old as I am, bearing the titles, '_Wïr of Wiccecræft' and 'Les Bijoux Enchantés' _Meaning '_Metals of Witchcraft'_ and '_Enchanted Jewels_.' I groaned. Though I am fluent in both French and Old English, I still hated reading these old books. Often the pages were not intact or the ink blurred.

"Read both of these. We'll do some notes after school today, but you should finish at least the first one by the end of the week. I want to be done with precious metals before we start stones. Don't look at me like that. How's your fire coming?"

Witches fire is an extremely difficult thing to make. It's the projection of your inner power; many witches aren't able to do it. I've been working on producing it, but the trick is getting control. Once you open the door to it, magic can come pouring out of you when you lose control of your emotions, like during rage or sadness. It can be stored too, if you have the right kind of container. Wealthy vampires who frequent the black market sometimes have bottles of it in their homes, used as decoration or lighting. Only mortals would be ignorant enough to use it as a weapon. Once the container is opened, the fire is free and only a witch can control it.

I cupped by hands and relaxed my mind, picturing them filling with orange and green flames. I focused my power and pushed it, trying to expel it from my core. My head buzzed and my heart burned, but I kept my focus, until between my fingers danced a glowing orange ball of fire. I smiled proudly and concentrated harder, making it glow brighter and hotter. I relaxed and let it die out. Grandma grinned.

"Well done Hex! I'll teach you how to use it in the melting of metal. You won't have to use from our stocks anymore. I know you have more in you though." She put a hand on my shoulder. "Flowing in your veins is Harmon blood, and with it, white and black fire. You'll learn to master both."

I grinned. White and Black fire is the greatest force a witch can possess. It is capable of decimating cities and healing the mortally wounded. Even if you are an inch from death, white fire will restore your strength and heal your soul. I had only seen it preformed once, by my Grandmother on a little girl who'd been mugged. It was a great and terrible power that I knew was a gift given by the goddess Hecate herself to those who earned it.

I took my books back upstairs and checked the clock. I had thirty minutes before I had to leave, so I curled up on the chaise in the front entryway and opened '_Wïr of Wiccecræft.' _The first chapter was all about the origin of using jewelry for spells, which I found interesting. Apparently, witches used to make cursed jewelry as presents for enemies, so that without detection, they could kill or hex them. Witches in Circle Twilight didn't use such harsh spells; rather they used them as good luck charms. I wondered if you could lace one with love potion. I flipped ahead a couple pages to see.

"_The spell is made stronger if the specimen's blood is mixed with the melted metal. This makes the spell particular to that one specimen, but the spell will also affect others_." I read aloud. I already knew that you could intensify a spell by adding personal items of your victim to the potion, but using blood had never occurred to me. I knew that Circle Midnight used the hair of their victims on their dolls to make them personalized, but blood would have a stronger, more permanent effect. I checked the time. 8:10. I picked up my school bag and shoved the book inside.

"Bye Grandma! See you after school!" I called through the house before running out to my car.


	6. Jackson Jekyll

CHAPTER 6

I arrived at the school with twenty minutes before the first bell rang, parking beside Clawd's truck. Draculara hopped out of the passenger's side and waved a friendly hello. She waited for me to get out and then ran and gave me a hug. I was a little thrown off by the hug, but returned it anyway. She pulled back and looked me in the eyes. Hers were a beautiful shade of crimson.

"Hex, Clawd told me everything, I am so sorry you felt like you couldn't tell us you're a witch!" "I, er, he told you everything?" I shot him a look and he smiled back sheepishly.

"Oh don't be fangry with him!" Draculara said. "I made him. Anyway you don't have to be scared of what we think about you. Or the others. There are some at this school…well, who might not take kindly to your heritage, but not to worry. We'll stick by you no matter what." Her eyes were set.

I was surprised by her fierce loyalty to a girl she met yesterday.

"Thanks. And, how much exactly did he tell you?" Worried she might be mad if she knew that I'd tried to seduce her boyfriend.

"Everything. I'm not angry though! Not at all! I'm actually grateful; he's decided to get more serious now, because of what you did. Oh! And he told me what you're doing for Deuce too, I think it's really sweet, and I'll be glad to help if I can." She beamed.

"Come on Lara, let her get a word in." Clawd said. "We'll help you tell Clawdeen if you like."

"Oh, er sure." I said. "Who did you say wouldn't take kindly to me being a witch?" I asked.

"Oh, um…" Draculara looked up at Clawd. "Well some of the vampires are known to be… a little prejudiced. They came from the Vampire Academy when it merged with Monster High. They also have a problem with werewolves, but don't worry. I'm sure you'll survive."

"It's possible the elves will be displeased. But not because you're a witch, they don't like Brits. Possibly because their family was driven from Ireland by the English in the 1600s." Clawd added.

I laughed. "Well I got kicked out of England before that even happened."

"Hey me too!" Draculara added. "I guess we have that in common."

I smiled at her. It was good to have someone who understood the Witch Hunts, even if she wasn't a witch, vampires were still tortured, the witches just got the worst of it.

"I'm planning on telling Clawdeen today. Want to help me find her?" I asked them.

"Right now?" Draculara's accent was so funny, but maybe I wasn't one to talk.

"Yeah."

"Okay, she's usually in the gym before school watching the boys casketball practice."

We found Clawdeen in the gymnasium and just as Draculara said she'd be; she was sitting on the bleachers with two other girls watching nine sweaty boys shoot hoops. The other girls were strange, and that was Hex talking. One had black and white striped hair, green skin and what looked like stitching holding her all together. The other had blue skin and blue gills poking out of her long blonde hair.

Clawdeen smiled when she saw us approaching.

"Hey ghouls!" She waved. "Isn't Holt gorgeous?" She said dreamily looking over the court. "Oh sorry Hex," she said when she saw me. "This is Frankie Stein," gesturing to the girl with black and white hair. "And this is Lagoona Blue."

"Hi!" Frankie said. "You must be the new girl. I was the new girl last month, it's not so bad once you meet these lovely ghouls."

"Lagoona." Said Lagoona, outstretching her hand to me. I shook it, wondering what kind of monsters these girls where. Lagoona took a swig from her water bottle and answered my question.

"I'm the daughter of the Sea Monster, and Frankie here was built by her dad, Frankenstein. What kind of monster are you sweetheart?" She spoke with a heavy Australian accent.

I took a breath to steady myself and spoke slowly, watching their reactions.

"I'm a witch." Clawdeen turned away from the finishing practice and looked at me. Frankie didn't look affected, but Lagoona sucked in a breath.

"You're a witch?" She said.

"I don't get it, what's weird about that?" Frankie asked, confused.

"It's weird because they all got killed off during the Witch Hunts Frankie." Clawdeen said. I winced.

"Deen! Try to be more sensitive!" Draculara hissed.

Clawdeen's ears flattened against her hair.

"Sorry Hex, I didn't mean…"

"No it's okay." I said, forgiving her. "She's almost right though Frankie. Since then, the surviving witches have been… a little more inconspicuous than other monsters. Old habits really."

"Oh." Frankie looked sad. "I'm so sorry Hex. But, so, we're still friends right?"

"Totally!" Lagoona interjected. "I have a witch for a friend! That is so _cool_!"

I smiled, happy that they liked me. Clawdeen shrugged.

"I don't care it you're a witch, you're still one the most stylish ghouls I've ever met." She turned to her brother. "I'm guessing that's where you went last night?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Clawd's a history buff, I bet he couldn't wait to find out more about the mysterious Hex Harmon." Clawdeen explained to Lagoona and Frankie.

"Harmon?" Lagoona asked.

"Yeah." I said.

"What does that mean?" Frankie asked.

"It means my Grandmother is the Crone of Witches." I said.

"Oh."

"The Crone is like the leader Frankie." Lagoona helped out her friend.

"Thanks." She smiled back gratefully.

The bell rang, and all six of us stood to go to class.

"You're our friend Hex, we don't want you to feel left out." Lagoona said kindly.

"Yeah, we're cool." Clawdeen said. "Sorry you felt like you couldn't tell us yesterday."

I blushed. "It's just, witches have kind of a bad rep." I looked at Clawd. "And, I didn't want you to assume I'm like the darkest of my kind." I thought about my desire to join Circle Midnight, but pushed it from my mind.

"So what class does everyone have first?" I asked lightly.

"Geography." Frankie and Lagoona said.

"Potions." Clawd scowled.

"History of Magic." Clawdeen yawned.

"Dead Languages." Draculara said cheerfully.

"Me too." I said to her. "What languages do we learn?"

"Um, Runes, Zombie, Latin, that's it I think. At least this year. We should be finishing Zombie this semester, there aren't that many ways to groan."

I laughed. "I speak fluent Latin already, but I've never tried to read Runes. We have a few books in the library in Runes, but neither Grandma or I can read them."

"Well you'll learn. Come on, the classroom's this way."

Draculara and I waved goodbye to the others and carried on down a long passage. The classroom at the end of it was more of an auditorium, with rows and rows of elevated seats and a stage at the bottom. Many of the seats were already filled, but Draculara and I found two near the back to sit in. The lights dimmed as we sat down and a screen behind the stage lit up with a PowerPoint presentation titled 'Enunciating Zombie.' The ghost of an old man wearing a ratty suit and spectacles floated through the screen and cleared his throat.

"That's Professor Geist. He used to be a mortal, but he woke up one morning and left his body in the bed. So he transferred to Monster High and began teaching this course." Draculara whispered.

"Why did he have to transfer?" I whispered back.

Draculara looked at me weird. "Because. It's not like he can teach at the normie high school. He's undead."

I blinked. "But don't the mortals know all about monsters?"

"Yeah, but… look normies and monsters, we don't get along, and we definitely don't mix."

"Oh."

"No talking!" Professor Geist shouted.

We fell silent.

The class was unfortunately dull. Professor Geist droned on and on about the history of the Zombie language, which was practically non existent, it could all be summed up with the fact that animated corpses are not able to produce words due to the decomposition of their vocal chords. He handed out phonetics books and assigned a couple chapters of reading for homework. I sighed. Luckily, the textbooks were in English – I'm not even certain Zombie _is _a written language – but I added the book to Grandmas in my bag. It was a good thing I'd put an expansion charm on it, the bag now could carry all of my books without stretching or weighing any more.

"So, do you have like, a magic wand?" Draculara asked as we met up with the others at our lockers.

"Some witches use wands to focus their power when they're learning, but they're not really necessary." I took a nervous breath.

"You guys haven't told anyone I'm a witch have you?"

They looked at each other.

"No, but I don't think anyone would mind." Lagoona started.

"It's just, I can't risk any mortals finding out. They all know who you lot are, but witches have laws against mortal involvement in our world. No mortal person can ever know I'm a witch okay? They'd be handed over to the Circle Council and likely executed."

The girls paled but nodded their heads.

"There's a boy here who's half mortal…" Frankie began.

"Oh yeah, Jackson Jekyll." Clawdeen piped up. "He's literally half monster, half normie. He has two personalities, Holt Hide and Jason Jekyll." She sighed. "You'll have to see for yourself, it's hard to explain. Anyway, you can totally trust him."

I nodded. "Right. But for the meantime, can we just, kind of control this, the last thing I want is for my being a witch to end up on the front page of the school newspaper."

"Did some monster say school newspaper?" Spectra Vondergeist floated through Draculara's locker. "Hey Hex. How was your first day?"

"Oh, er, fine."

"Nobody said anything about a newspaper Spectra." Clawdeen growled. "Float on by."

"Deen, no need to be rude." Draculara scolded. "But she's right Spec, we were just talking about Professor Geist's Dead Languages class." She looked the ghost right in the eyes as she spoke.

Spectra faltered. "But I thought I heard…"

Draculara narrowed her eyes and Spectra smiled. "Okay guess I heard wrong."

"That's right." Draculara said, not breaking eye contact. "Just forget we said anything Spec."

Spectra's cool grey eyes glazed over for a second. Then she snapped back, blinking rapidly. She smiled big at me. "Hey Hex, how was your first day? I told you these ghouls would get you acquainted. Well, ta-ta for now! I've got Potions, see you ghouls later!" She floated away mistily.

I looked at Draculara expectantly. She shrugged and said simply, "vampire mind trick. It's not really powerful, but it comes in handy sometimes with Spectra."

"She's always poking her nose in another monster's business." Clawdeen said tiredly. "Come on, you've got History of Magic right?"

I consulted my schedule. "No, Physical De-education."

"Awe, okay see you after then." Draculara said. "The pool is through those doors there." She pointed down the hallway. "Have fun." Then she and Clawdeen walked off. _The pool_? I felt my stomach twist. _And I have to go in it? For class? _My heart pounded and I took a couple deep breaths. _Oh goddess. Oh goddess, oh goddess, oh goddess, oh goddess oh goddess. _I chanted as I pushed on the double doors.

The pool was Olympic sized, with bleacher above it and a diving tank off to the side. The class was gathered beside the shallow end, dressed in their swimming costumes. I gulped and joined them. The coach was a young woman with cropped black hair and a fierce expression. She wore black shorts and a red t-shirt, with a whistle around her neck. I joined the group nervously, not recognizing a face. There were two other girls who hadn't changed into their costumes, sisters with black and white fur, long tails and yellow eyes that had diamond-shaped pupils.

"You must be Miss Harmon." The coach sized me up as I arrived. "Where is your bathing suit?"

"Yes madam," I said very aware of the thirteen pairs of eyes that watched me. "I don't swim."

"You don't swim?" The coach looked displeased. "Why are you here then?"

"I-I didn't know I would have to swim. I'm terrified of water madam. Is there something else I can do?"

The coach's eyes softened. "Just sit on the side and watch then. You're not alone. Meowlody and Purrsephone here don't like water either." She gestured to the two cat girls. They smiled, showing their teeth. They looked at me like I was a mouse that needed catching. I wondered, amused, how they'd think of the 'all witches have black cats' stereotype. I smirked and sat down on the bleacher beside the lane.

"Now, as you all know, today is the first day of term, and that means swim tests!"

The class groaned. "Quit your whining and hop in. I need to see six 100m swims, 1minute rest in between. If you can do it, you pass. If you can't, you fail easy as that. Now in you get!"

I was really glad the coach had let me skip the swim test. Water and I really do not get along. I've been afraid of it my whole life, I wasn't about to just "hop in" because of a PdE swim class. Goddess knows I'd rather string myself to a tree than risk drowning.

Some of the students were better swimmers than others, the best was a boy names Gil, who was part fish and had to wear a tank over his head while on land to keep from drying out, but everybody passed. I watched an apparently mortal boy narrowly beat a young werewolf girl for second place. Nothing about him was out of the norm; he had tanned skin and black hair with a yellow streak. He wore prescription goggles, yellow trunks and a black cozzy top. He must have seen me watching him because he came over and sat down next to me while the others were finishing the test.

"Miss Harmon, it's rude to stare." He extended his hand. "I'm Jackson. Jackson Jekyll."

"Hex." I shook his hand. "And I wasn't staring. I was watching. It was a really close race between you and that girl."

"Yeah, Howleen's a tough competitor." He ran a hand through his hair, flicking water on me. "Actually all the Wolf kids are."

"She's Clawd's sister?"

"Yeah." There was an uncomfortable pause, and Jackson wrung his hands. "Look, I'm not good at this. I'm too awkward to be smooth, but I see a pretty girl watching me and I feel compelled to say hello." He blushed. "It's the other guy who's good with girls."

I laughed and smiled kindly at him. "You're doing fine. I never would've known you're awkward." He was pretty cute, his shy smile and twinkling brown eyes captured my attention. His blush deepened at my gaze.

"So, Clawd called me last night,"

I felt my eyes harden and my smile become tight. "Oh yeah?"

"He uh, had some really nice things to say about you." Jackson never looked away from my face, even with my exposed belly and practically bare legs. I tried to keep my expression light.

"That's nice. Er, I hope you don't mind me asking, but what kind of monster are you?"

"Oh!" Jackson exclaimed, his face returning to its normal colour. "I'm not a monster. Well, I guess I'm half, but not this half. What I mean to say is, I have multiple personality disorder. I'm me, and then I have another me inside, who is a monster. Its why I go to this school, if I hear really loud music, I change into the other guy." He made a face. "You'll probably get to meet him, I apologize in advance for his behavior. He's a bit over confident."

"So Jackson Jekyll is mortal, and…."

"Holt Hide is the monster. I couldn't tell you what kind of monster he is. Oh and we're both cousins with Heath Burns."

"Ah, flame boy." I said remembering yesterday's events.

"Sorry about him, he's really obnoxious." He apologized.

"Don't worry about it." I assured him. "I want to hear more about you…" I walked my up fingers up his leg.

Jackson laughed nervously and swallowed, pushing my hand gently away.

"I, uh, I…" He stammered.

"Jackson!" the coach called from the pool. "Quit your idling and get changed! Bell rings in ten!"

He turned back to face me, looking apologetic.

"Go." I laughed, playfully pushing him away. "I'm not going anywhere." I watched him towel off his hair and push open the door to the men's locker room. For some reason when the bell rang, instead of heading for the pool door, I leaned up against the wall beside the men's locker room. A couple boys checked me out as they left, but none stayed to chat. A few minutes later, a showered, dried and dressed Jackson Jekyll opened the door. I watched his eyes go to where we'd been sitting and his shoulders slump when he saw the empty seat.

"Looking for someone?" I said as the door swung back. He startled. "Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you. But I said I wasn't going anywhere." He smiled a sweet smile as I dug in my bag for my schedule. "You can walk to me my next class if you like."

'Su-sure," He blushed again. "What do you have?"

"Study Hall." I replied.

"Me too." He said as the bell rang.

"Oops, and we're already late." I winked. "Skipping swimming and late for class? I've been rather naughty today, and it's not even lunch. Come on."

Jackson gulped and followed me out the door.


	7. Study Hall

CHAPTER 7

The Study Hall was a large circular room filled with bookcases and library computers. The room was lit by candles and had great blue curtains covering all the windows, giving it a very 'lair' like aura. It was almost silent when we walked in, the creaking door announcing our presence. The librarian looked up and dedicated his one central eye to giving me a dirty look. I walked confidently over to his desk and whispered,

"Hex Harmon. Do I have to sign in to study hall? Or do I just get to work?"

"Just get to work Miss Harmon." He growled.

"Right. You won't even know I' m here." I took Jackson's hand and led him to table in the back of the room. There were very few places the librarian couldn't see in this strange round room. I supposed that was its purpose. Jackson sat down and pulled out his Arithmetic textbook setting it on the table. If I was alone, I would've read Grandmas book, but I was worried Jackson would notice it. Then I had a great idea.

"Jackson, do you read any languages other than English?" I asked.

"Um, a little French…I didn't take Dead Languages last semester sorry." He looked so cute with his glasses on! And not once did his eyes drift from mine.

"No, no it's not a problem. I was only curious." I reached into my bag, my hand searching for the old book. I had to sort through all my other texts, and it had fallen to the bottom, causing me to reach my arm into the bag, almost to the elbow. Cursing, I saw Jackson staring skeptically at my arm, which was half buried in my shoulder bag. I smiled lightly, trying to pass off the strangeness of it all as I brought forth '_Wïr of Wiccecræft', _a book that should not have fit my satchel.

"Just a bit of extra curricular." I said in what I hoped what a breezy voice. To my amazement, Jackson no longer looked weirded out, but amazed.

"Where did you get that?" He asked rather loudly. The Cyclops librarian hissed for him to be quiet.

"My grandmother collects old books." I replied. It wasn't a lie really, just not the total truth.

"And you can read it? What language is that?"

"Sure. It's Old English. I grew up with it."

"You _grew up with it_?" He said. The librarian hissed again. "Right, I'm always forgetting how _old_ you monsters are." I frowned. Technically I wasn't any older than he was, since time stopped affecting me when I was seventeen.

"Sorry. I didn't mean…" He apologized. "It's just, it's strange being the only eighteen year old who's actually eighteen."

"No that's okay." I said, still a little stung. I cracked open the book and started chapter two.

"What's it about?" Jackson asked, gesturing to the book in my hand. I softened.

"Er, Geology." Geology is the study of rocks, and rock is sort of like metal, so it's not really a lie is it?

"Oh." Jackson said, disappointed. He began to work from his math book. I struggled to think of what to say, but for the first time, I didn't know what would make a mortal guy more comfortable. He looked content enough, doing his work. Maybe he didn't want to be bothered. Besides, I had a lot of reading to do. Just then I thought of the perfect thing to say.

"Hey, are you meeting up with Clawd today after school?"

He looked up from his notes. "I don't know. He invited me, but I didn't think I was going to go."

"You should come. I'm going, it'll be fun." I smiled and pushed a lock of hair off my shoulder.

"Well, I'll think about it." He blushed. "I'm not making any promises."

"Okay," I grinned mischievously. "But Jackson," I purred. "If you don't come, I'll play my iCoffin so loud, Holt will."

"You drive a hard bargain Hex." He said, leaning back over his notes.

A cold swept over me, like someone had dropped an ice cube down the back of my sweater and I realized what I'd done. The point of the get together was to meet Clawd's friends, but mostly, to help Deuce get over his ex-girlfriend. And I'd just invited a potential crush to watch me do it. _Oh goddess, what have I done? _


	8. Date With A Deuce?

The rest of the day flew by as if in a dream, I had History of Magic and Potions after lunch. When the bell rang for then end of potions, I walked up to the teacher ad waited nervously for him to finish erasing the board.

"Mr. Venom?"

"Yes, Miss Harmon, what can I do for you?" He had a gentle smile that eased some of my nerves.

"Mr. Venom, I wanted to ask you about the possibility of me transferring to the Expert Potions class."

"Well that would be very ambitious of you Miss Harmon. How do you propose you would skip over the Beginners and Advanced courses?"

"I'm really good at potions Mr. Venom, I know that the Expert class is where I belong. No offence, but I'm well beyond measuring out frog eggs. I'm requesting permission to challenge the final exams of both prerequisite courses." I said more confidently than I felt.

"We don't usually allow students to skip classes." He raised an eyebrow. "What make you think you're any different?"

I played my last card. "I'm a Harmon witch Mr. Venom, Circle Twilight." I showed him my onyx ring. "I've been practicing potions my entire life and I know I do not need to be in the Beginner class. Please allow me to challenge the exams and submit my transfer for the Expert class, or I will tell my Grandmother about your stubbornness." I set my jaw, trying to appear more in control than I was. To my surprise, Mr. Venom laughed. Not a mean laugh, like he was amused.

"Is something funny?"

"Miss Harmon I've been waiting for you to come clean since your first class yesterday. Of course you can move up to the Expert class. I will be thrilled to teach you."

"But… how did you…?"

"Your ring. It's beautifully made. I noticed it yesterday and knew you'd be asking for a transfer." He winked and packed up his briefcase. "See you in Expert potions Miss Harmon."

"Thank you!" I remembered my voice as the door closed behind him.

Practically skipping, I met Clawd in the hallway on the way to my locker. He smiled when he saw my expression.

"What's up Hex? You look happier than Clawdeen during a shoe sale."

"Mr. Venom is letting me upgrade to Expert Potions! Isn't that amazing? I'm pretty sure I still have to sit the Beginners and Advanced exams, but who cares?"

"Expert Potions? That's great Hex, I'm pretty sure its just going to be you and Ghoulia Yelps in that class though, nobody else is crazy enough to take it."

"I don't care. It's going to be so great!" I grinned.

"I'm happy for you then. So listen, I was talking to Clawdeen and she thinks we should combine our little get togethers to make a party!"

"Er, combine?"

"Yeah, Draculara's sleepover and my bro-down. Anyway it's going to be Friday night okay? I've told everyone else, just make sure you can come."

"Sure, yeah." I said, mentally slapping myself for forgetting Draculara's sleepover. "At your place?"

"Yeah. Deuce lives kind of near you, he can probably give you a ride if you like."

"Look Clawd, about Deuce..." I started, my tone apologetic. "I don't know if I can… you know. It doesn't feel right." _Because I'm crushing on Jackson_. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I don't want you to do anything you're not comfortable with. I'll introduce you to Deuce now if you like."

I nodded. "Okay, sure. Just let me get my stuff together." I headed to my locker and pulled out my Zombie Phonetics book. I made a face at it, stupid thing; I'd had a look at it during Study Hall, the entire thing was just different ways to spell moans and groans. Apparently the Zombie language was as dull as it sounded. There was even a CD taped to the back containing samples of the different sounds.

As I turned to leave, I bumped face first into a tall, well built guy with green vipers for hair. I dropped my bag and Grandma's book slipped out, slid across the floor and landed at the snake-haired guy's feet.

"Goddess, I'm sorry." I knelt to pick it up, but he got there first, snapping it up off the floor and flicking through the pages. "Hey, er…thanks." I reached out my hand to take it back, but the boy continued to look through it. I prayed his wasn't fluent in Old English.

"Interesting book." He looked at me over its pages. He was wearing red sunglasses, obscuring his eyes and expression from me. I winced as he slammed it shut, dust flying from the pages.

"Yeah, er, I'll have it back now then?" I reached up to grab it, but the boy moved it out of my reach. I folded my arms across my chest. "What do you want?"

"Pretty _and_ British, it's my lucky day." He smiled impishly. I scowled up at him as he opened the book and began to read. I contained my surprise.

"Can you read it?"

"Old English? It's not my best, but I'm competent. This is really _fascinating_ stuff. I can't imagine why you'd want to read about enchanted metal, unless…" He smirked. "You're a witch."

"Who wants to know?" I asked, the confidence in my voice surprising me.

"Deuce Gorgon milady." The boy bowed low, sweeping Grandma's book behind his back. I forced my expression to remain neutral. _Deuce Gorgon? The boy I was supposed to be wooing? Goddess. Just my luck. The boy would turn out to be the world's biggest tool. _

"Right then Mr. Gorgon, may I have my book back?"

"Humor me. What's your name? Or do you prefer to be called 'witch?'"

I made myself stare into his sunglasses, imagining his eyes melting under my gaze. I stepped in close to him, my lips under his jaw line. One of my hands pressed into his chest, the other snaked around to his back, and closed around the leather spine of the book.

"For you, my lord, 'witch' works just fine." I breathed. I spun out of his grasp, taking the book with me. I scooped my satchel up from the floor and turned to face his surprise expression. I held the book up to my face, looking over the top and winked, then spun on my heel and walked away, feeling his eyes on me as I did so.

"Pretty upset about breaking up with his girlfriend." I muttered as I started the car's ignition. "Seemed just fine to me!"

I was still grumbling when I pulled into the drive. I slammed the door and threw my keys onto the island in the kitchen. I fixed myself some peanut butter and jam toast and was just starting to enjoy it when my iCoffin buzzed. Draculara's face appeared on the screen.

"Hey Lara," I said between bites.

"Hey Hex! So, Clawd told you about our party this Friday? Everyone's just _dying_ for you to come. Especially Deuce!" She squealed. "I don't know what you did to him today after school, but he told Clawd he thinks you're fangtastic!"

"I don't know Draculara, I'm not really into him_." To say the least_.

"Awe c'mon Hex, he's great! I know he can be a little forceful at times, but just give him a chance?"

"I don't think so. But I'm coming to your party on Friday anyway. Who else is going to be there?"

"Really! That's great! So far, Abbey – who you haven't met yet – Frankie, Lagoona, Clawdeen and Clawd, Deuce, Jackson – actually more likely Holt – Heath, and Gil. Those are the monsters invited of course, I haven't heard back from Deuce or Gil."

"Jackson is going?" My heart did an odd flutter, which I pretended I didn't feel.

"Yes, why do you like him?" She asked excitedly.

"I just met him today!"

"Ooooh, you like him! I'll put in a good word for you. Right then, see you at school tomorrow!" She hung up before I could say another word. I groaned. Draculara!

I looked around the room and saw a bright yellow slip of paper on the island that I hadn't noticed in my haste for the fridge earlier. In my Grandmothers untidy hand, it read:

_Hex,_

_Had to go perform passing ceremony for a friend. See you shortly. Also, running low on powdered rhinoceros tusk. Be a doll and pick some up for us? About 500 grams should do it. _

_ Love G. _

I looked longingly at the sofa and pocketed my car keys.

The pharmacy where Morgana worked was a tiny, local one. I'm not even sure they were a real pharmacy. Morgana was a very petite woman with a short platinum bob and grey-blue eyes. She certainly wasn't licensed, and I'd never seen any mortal people inside. As I approached her, she was restocking the shelves with Cold-FX and humming a Katy Perry song. I cleared my throat and held up my hand bearing the onyx rose.

"Can you help me?"

She took one look at the ring and set down her price sticker maker, straightening her black rose headband.

"Unity." She gave the traditional witch greeting. "What do you need?" I showed her Grandma's note. "Sure thing, just wait at the till."

I did so and she disappeared behind a door that said 'staff only, keep out.' A few minutes later, she re-emerged carrying a foggy old jar filled with a grayish powder.

"I assume you wanted standard grain?" She asked. I noticed a beauty mark below her lips.

"Er, yes please, that's perfect." I watched as she placed the jar in a small black paper bag with the pharmacy logo painted on in purple, a Gaelic spiral symbol for 'witch.' I paid and bid my goodbye.

"Hecate with you." She smiled and continued to hum as I left.


	9. Secrets and Lies

"Oh thanks Hex," Grandma swooped down on me and plucked the purple bag from my grasp. "I've been desperate to get some more of this, our stocks were running incredibly low. How's Morgana today?"

There was a twinkle in her pale purple eye.

"Er, fine I guess. She seemed well enough, I didn't really ask her." I shrugged, sitting down at the island again.

"Hex! It's good manners to ask people how they're doing." She frowned at me, but quickly changed her mind and smiled. "Your phone went off while you were gone. Wailing like a syren. I think it was a boy."

I rolled my eyes and reached across the counter for my iCoffin. A new message from Clawdeen popped up and a couple from unknown numbers that appeared to have been opened. I looked up at my Grandma who was wiping down a spotless countertop and avoiding my eyes.

"Read anything interesting lately?"

"Oh, you know, a little of this, a little of that." She smiled. "I think that Jackson likes you, and I don't know what happened with this Deuce today, but I'd say you got him good."

I groaned. "It wasn't like that. He's a jerk. He tried to nick your metal book to get my attention. I blew him off." I avoided discussing Jackson, hastily scrolling through Clawdeen's note about the party. Apparently Spectra had learned about it and spread the word; our small get together was now a school wide event.

"By the way Grandma, I've been invited to a party this Friday night, at Clawdeen's house. Are we busy?" I steered the conversation away from Deuce.

"A party? No we're not busy. You're doing so well here, making so many friends so quickly… this Monster High is much better than sending you to mortal school incognito."

"Right. So I can go?"

"Course you can."

"Thanks. I'll be good, promise." I turned to leave and retreat to my bedroom for the evening when she spoke again, this time, more seriously.

"Hex, I need you to do something though, before the party." She sighed and sat down. "I have heard talk…that there might be a witch at the mortal high school. A Lost witch."

"Oh." I said, the mood suddenly somber. "How can you be sure?"

"We can't be, but it is imperative that the witches be the first to find this poor soul. There is trouble in the Council; some of the vampires as you know are not as open to the idea of strengthening the witch population as the others. A few radical groups have even taken to the streets, seeking out Lost witches and executing them."

"What?" I said, feeling light headed. "Why didn't you tell me this before? They're _murdering_ us? Do they want war?" I was suddenly angry, I felt heat pulse in my veins and my heart rate quickened. "What right do they have to try and destroy us? And to seek out the Lost…."

"Is cruel injustice I agree." Grandmother said, her eyes flat. "Control your rage Hex, it is not all vampires that feel this way, there are only a few small groups. The vampire leader is working hard to control these ideas, but we must take precautions."

My hands glowed orange and I fought to keep the fire contained. "How?"

"Find the Lost, rescue them before they are in danger. Circle Dusk had offered to take in the Lost and protect them."

"We're bringing them back?" I asked, surprised. "Grandma, the risks… they've been Lost so long."

"Those who choose the potion will drink it. Those who do not will take from the Cup of Lethe. They will have no memory of anything involving the Council or Monster Society." She said firmly. Her eyes held mine until I realized what she'd neglected to tell me.

"And my job in all of this?" I said, knowing the answer already. She looked sad. "I'm going to find them, the Lost, and bring them back. I'm the only one who can go unnoticed and gain their trust." I was determined now, knowing my role in her plan.

"I wish someone else could do it." Grandma's stony eyes met mine. "But you are the only one."

"Of course I will do it. I'll go to the mortal high school tomorrow after class and scope it out, I'll make a plan from there."

She nodded. "Be aware too, of the others who may be watching."

"The vampires?"

"Yes. Oh and Hex, take this," She handed me a tiny blue flask filled with greenish-grey salts.

"What is this?" I asked, holding the flask up to the light and peering in.

"Ground divining rod, preserved with the green fire. It's handy when searching for things. I usually use it in the storeroom. Sprinkle it on the floor and it will tell you if what you seek is near. It's not much, but you'll hopefully get something out of it."

I nodded. "Thanks."

"Beware the vampires Hex, I cannot stress that enough. If they find out you're my granddaughter…"

"I think I can handle a few blood-suckers." I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. "I wonder if any of them speak Zombie." I waved my Zombie phonetics book.

Grandma smiled and put a hand on my shoulder. "Go then, do your homework and don't forget the reading from me. I want to be melting down metal before you go to the party."

"Sure thing Grandma." I called down the stairs, my heart heavy and my brain swimming with what I'd just been told. Vampires who wanted to snuff out the witches. Not exactly a new concept, but to be murdering Lost witches, _children, _it disgusted me.

I shut my drapes and crawled into bed, reading my textbook by candlelight. The assigned chapters were so dull; it was all I could do just to stare at the pages, silently mouthing the sounds of various growls and groans. My eyes felt heavy as my conscious mind feebly fended off the dreamland. I succumbed and exhaled, blowing out my candle and letting my textbook drop onto my stomach.

'_Bbbbbbrrrrriiinnnggggg_,' the warning bell screamed in my ear, signaling the end of third period. I jerked upright and knocked my History of Magic text off the desk, sending notes flying. I rubbed my eyes and sighed, packing up the rest of my bag before bending slowly over to pick them up. Draculara helped me.

"What's with you today Hex? You've been acting clumsier than a zombie. I heard Purrsephone say put your entire gym strip on inside out during PdE this morning. "

She was right; I had made that mistake earlier. Everyone in class had neglected to tell me too, until a tiny elf girl pointed it out as I was putting on my real clothes. Thankfully Jackson hadn't been in class today.

"It's nothing Lara, I didn't get much sleep last night, that's all." I pushed my sunglasses higher up my nose to hide my dry red eyes. The truth was, I didn't get any sleep the night before. Every time I drifted off, I was awoken by a nightmare. The same one each time, but I never saw anything more than the vampire in the alley.

"Come on Hex, out with it," Draculara persisted as the sleeve of my cardigan caught the door handle causing me to be yanked backwards into her. "Something's eating you."

"I told you, I had two hours of sleep last night, I'm just a bit tired."

"Two?" Draculara gasped. "Why so little?"

"Well I only usually get five or six. What?" Draculara's eyes were bugged and she looked paler than usual.

"_Five or six? _I need _at least_ ten to twelve hours just to function!" She supported my elbow as I tripped on a loose corner of carpet on my first step into Dead Languages.

"Thanks. Well don't worry about it, I'll survive the day." I dropped my bag beside my desk, letting the contents spill out from the clasp I'd neglected to close. I groaned and shoved all the papers inside as Draculara sat down beside me.

"You sure you're okay? You seem really distracted."

"I'm fine Lara, can we drop it?" I spat, a little angrier than was just. I saw her look hurt. "I'm sorry. I just don't want to talk about it okay?"

She nodded. "Sure. Just so you know, I'm always open to listen. That's what friends are for." She smiled and leaned back in her chair as Professor Geist began his lecture.

I sighed. If I were going to confide in anyone about the nightmares, it wouldn't be Draculara. I was afraid she might take it as a personal hit if I told her about the vampire in my dreams and those threatening my kind.

The rest of the day was a blur. I managed to trip on every uneven surface in the school, hit my shoulder on three corners and pour too much skink slime into my first Expert potion, making it go thick and black when it was supposed to be translucent. Mr. Venom gave me a skeptical look and marked down a red C- on my lab assessment sheet. By the time the final bell rang, I was practically dragging my hands on the ground as I walked. Someone grabbed my wrist as I stubbed my toe on a trash bin and prevented me falling. I rubbed my eyes and saw a very concerned looking Jackson looking down on me. Clawd came over and joined him, shaking my shoulder.

"Hex? You don't look so good. Have you seen the school nurse?" He asked kindly, but I'd had a rough day and didn't feel like being pitied.

"No. And I'm fine, I just need some sleep. Where were you this morning?"

"I was busy. Why didn't you get enough sleep last night?" Jackson wondered.

"I just couldn't okay? It's nothing." I tried to shove the boys off, but Clawd blocked my path to my locker. I tried to glare at him, but it didn't seem to have any effect.

"It's not nothing! Have you seen yourself Hex? You're a mess." Clawd pulled me in front of a window. A girl with paper white skin and black eyes stood there, dressed in my grey cardigan and purple jeans. Her raven bouffant was half undone and her eyeliner smudged. I put a hand to my neck and traced the bluish veins crawling up the throat of the reflection.

I turned around and managed a smile.

"Hey I guess that's why I haven't seen Heath around today, he probably mistook me for a zombie."

"Not funny Hex." Jackson looked seriously worried.

"It's a little funny." I grumped. "Anyway, thanks boys, but I'm fine. I'm just going home, it's no – "

"Oh no. You are so not driving like this. You'll kill yourself. I'll take you home." Clawd said, determined.

"Don't you have casketball? I'll take her." Jackson assured him.

"Even when I look like a zombie, I still got it." I laughed manically. The boys exchanged nervous glances. "Come on guys, I'm _fine. _I can totally drive home. Don't worry about me." I turned to leave, but walked face-first into the large glass window. Jackson caught me before I fell onto the ground.

"Not a chance. You're coming with me. See you tomorrow Clawd, I'll take care of her." He led me to my locker and waited for me to gather my books. "Keys." He extended his hand. I grumbled and pulled my car keys out of my jacket pocket, placing them in his outstretched hand.

I slumped into passenger seat of Jackson's Mini Cooper, feeling it shake slightly as he slammed the trunk shut.

"Alright, just tell me where we're going." He said starting the ignition. Suddenly, I remembered my plan to visit the mortal high school today. I still wanted to, if I was supposed to be finding the Lost witch, and vampires could be there right now waiting to follow them home. I grabbed Jackson's wrist on the gearshift, surprising him.

"Jackson. I just realized, I'm supposed to…er run an errand for my Grandmother before I go home today." I unbuckled my seat belt, but the car door locked as I made to open it.

"Tell me where we're going. I'll help you get whatever it is done." He smiled kindly. "But you're not driving. So if it's that important, I'll take you. Where are we going?"

"I – I can't tell you. It's confidential." My mind whirred. _Jackson's part mortal right? He won't stand out at the mortal school; I don't even think the vamps could smell him. Just don't tell him anything that would put him in danger. _

"Oh. How can I help you then if – "

"What time does the mortal high school get out?"

"Later than us. But why do you want to know"

"That's where we're going. Don't ask why, I can't tell you. Know how to get there?" I asked.

"Sure. Normie high school, here we come." He gave me a strange look. "Try to relax Hex, you're kind of scaring me."

I looked up and realized I'd been spinning my ring at top speed and muttering intelligibly about vampires at high schools. I clasped my hands in my lap and leaned back, closing my eyes.

"Sorry."

"S'okay. It's about twenty minutes to Salem from here, try and get some sleep."

As the car cruised smoothly onto the highway towards Salem, the normie town nearby, I relaxed my mind and let the soft purr of the engine lull me to sleep.

I was running, barefoot through a little village. People were everywhere; my feet stung and fire reigned down from the sky. I pushed through the crowd and kept running, the men were behind me, carrying fire and setting homes ablaze. I kept running until I was yanked into an alley, pain ripped up my left shoulder and I saw a man in an ash covered suit leering down on me. He threw me to the ground and grinned, flashing his red pointed teeth. I tried to create fire, but he was already upon me, forcing my chin up to the amber sky and tracing his long jagged fingernail along my throat. I screamed and screamed trying to force him off me, but he was too strong, I thought I was going to die, when suddenly everything was gone. The village, the man, the pain and the fire, everything was gone and there was only blackness. At first it was relief, but then the darkness wrapped around me, constricting my body and tightening around my throat until I was slowly suffocating the blackness, and there was no light, no nothing except for it as it consumed me.

I awoke screaming and thrashing as a voice tried to soothe me, the car no longer moving. Something dug into my collarbone and I ripped at it, fighting to be free of it. Foreign fingers clicked the seatbelt and it was loose; I wriggled out of it and looked up at Jackson, whose brown eyes were huge and terrified.

"Hex, you're okay, you're safe. You were just having a dream, that's all. Just a bad dream."

I nodded and pushed my hair out of my face, my hands shaking. I put my head in my hands and started to cry, not bothering to hide the tears that streamed down my cheeks or silence the great sobs that burst from my chest. My body shook violently as I struggled to gain control of myself. Jackson reached over and hugged me to him. I clung to his shirt, weeping and shaking from the horror I'd seen. The nightmares had never been that bad, I'd never felt the darkness before. How it consumed me, swallowed everything in the world and then wrapped it's cold slippery grip around me, and I knew I'd never forget it.

Jackson stroked my hair and held me close, not minding that I was smearing makeup onto his freshly pressed shirt.

"It's why I haven't been sleeping." I said quietly when I regained control of my voice. "Every night, it's the same thing. Last night, I couldn't close my eyes without seeing it all… but never, it's never been his bad before."

"This happens to you every night?" He spoke softly.

I pulled away from him and wiped my eyes with the corner of my sleeve. "For a couple months now, I've been having escalading nightmares. There was something new though, something I'd never experienced before." I sniffed.

"Hex you can always tell me anything, you know that right? If something like this is bothering you, I don't want you to suffer in silence."

I nodded. "It's nobody's problem but mine." I replied, and then remembered where I was. "I've got a job to do. Wait here okay?"

"Like hell." Jackson answered.

"What?" I wiped my eyes again.

"I said, like hell; like hell I'm letting you go in there alone. This is obviously really important to you if you're still getting it done after what just happened. Hex are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

I saw that he was putting on a brave face, but was genuinely scared for me. I smiled and sniffed.

"I… look later okay? The final bell's going to ring any second." Jackson started getting out of the car, but I put a hand on his seat belt. "I need you to pull the car around, close to the parking lot exit. We might need to make a quick get-away and I don't want to wait for the lot to be clear."

"A quick what?"

"Keep your eye out for any car, most likely a larger SUV that looks suspicious. Look for tinted windows, no kids climbing in or out, one that's just hanging around the parking lot, that kind of thing." I tossed a pen into his lap. "Write down the license plate of anything out of place okay? I'll be back in a bit."

I left him stuttering in the drivers seat but as I pulled open the front door to the school I saw his Mini Cooper move and park right beside the parking lot gates. I took in a deep breath to steady myself and set my mind on the task at hand.


	10. Grab the Bull By The Horns

The hallways were completely empty. The clock read five minutes to four, which meant I had five minutes before the entire school was swarming with kids. Why hadn't I come up with a decent plan? There must be hundreds of kids in this school, how was I ever going to find the right one? I wished Grandma had given me more to go on than the salt. What would the salt do if it detected witch blood? How would I know which kid it meant? If I even knew his or her age, I could start in the appropriate locker hallway, but I had nothing. I tried to think of things that made me different from mortal girls. Something detectable from the outside, that would stand out. Good looks and a black rose. That's really all you could tell from the outside. So I'd need to use more than just my eyes and Grandmas flask to find the Lost witch.

With two minutes to the final bell, a skinny redhead girl opened her classroom door and snuck out, tiptoeing and silently closing the door behind her. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I decided to approach her. Taking care to look her in the eyes and initiating physical contact by extending my hand, I introduced myself.

"Hi. I'm… Andrea." I said, deciding at the last second to use a fake name.

"Uh, hi." She shook my hand. "Mindy."

"Hi Mindy. I'm just wondering, which hallway is the main one in this school? Is there a place everyone has to leave from to get to the parking lot?"

She gave me an odd look. "Sure, you're standing in it. There's only one main door out of this place, and there's only the one parking lot. All the seniors park there and all the parents pick their kids up from there."

"So all the kids here today will go through these doors to get out today?"

Mindy gave me a skeptical look. "Yeah." Then she shrugged and mumbled "weirdo." Before walking to her locker around the corner.

"Perfect." I whispered to myself. One minute.

I opened Grandma's flask and stood in the middle of the foyer, checking to make sure nobody was watching, I began to sprinkle the salts over the floor. I emptied the bottle and spread the contents around with my shoe, trying to cover as much of the floor as possible. As my foot touched the salt, a kind of itching feeling spread over the back of my mind, the kind you get when you're forgetting something. I guessed it was because the salt was detecting my own witch blood, but that wouldn't help me to find the Lost witch. I sat down on a bench and pulled my feet off the floor as the bell rang. The itching feeling stopped. _But how will I know which kid's foot is causing the itching?_

Kids flooded out of the classrooms and swarmed all over the place, gathering their books and socializing while waiting for their parents. To my pleasure, not many crossed the foyer right away, I'd been afraid of a mass exodus, but kids sort of just trailed out a few at a time. I kept watching their faces, relying on Grandma's diving rod to let me know which one to memorize. A group of six or seven girls crossed to the exit, but not one triggered the itching. They continued gossiping while I sat back to wait for the right person to come by.

As time went on, I began to worry the divining rod had been pushed around too much, or had stopped working. I tested it with my own foot and found out that it was active, but I couldn't see if any was still left on the floor. Just as I was giving up hope, a large group of kids walked by, all about my age, maybe a year older. They moved slowly, texting and talking at the same time, and I felt it. I small tingle run up the back of my spine into my brain and rest there, tugging at my mind to remember. I scanned the faces of the kids in the group, wanting to get closer, but not wanting to step on the enchanted floor and lose my Lost witch.

The kids pushed open the door and the feeling subsided. I quickly followed them, whipping out my iCoffin and snapping a few pictures of the group. They came together for a second before dispersing to various cars. _Who do I follow? _I closed my eyes and concentrated. Furrowing my brow, I brought forth orange flames. Bringing my cupped hands up to my mouth, I whispered an incantation

_My blood starts your life; let another's end it, _

_Guide me to one who can mold the enchanted flame. _

I closed my eyes and opened my hands, letting the flames free to find the closest witch. It was risky business, especially because I hadn't mastered the bewitched fire, but I knew that it would be attracted to magical blood only. Praying the flame hadn't been extinguished, I opened my eyes and watched the kids from my group get into their separate cars and begin to drive away. Delightedly, I watched a faint orange light glowing bright under a blue sedan. I couldn't see the face of the boy climbing into the driver's seat, but as I grew closer, I watched the light slowly loose life and die, just under where the boy sat.

Practically giddy, I ran to the exit and clambered into Jackson's car.

"The blue sedan. There." I pointed as the boy maneuvered the parking lot. "Follow it."

"Aye aye." Jackson started the engine and followed the blue car out of the parking lot.

"Stay behind him a little ways. I don't want to get caught." I said excitedly.

"Can I just ask what we're doing here?"

"No."

Jackson paused. "You'd tell me if this was illegal right?"

"It's not. Just drive." I kept my eyes fixed on the road. "Did you write down any licenses plates?"

"Oh, yeah two. On the notepad in the backseat." He reached behind and retrieved it for me. I tore the page out and slipped it in my pocket. Grandma would be able to tell if the cars belonged to anyone in monster society.

We followed the boy for a little while until it came to a big red house sitting atop a small grassy hill. The boy pulled up to a hedge with an iron gate. He pressed a button on the speaker pad and the gate swung open automatically allowing him to drive through it.

"Park behind the hedge." I ordered Jackson, getting out of the car. He did so and climbed out, joining me behind the gate. I put my hands on the lock and focused until I heard the satisfying click that meant the gate was open.

"Hex, I don't know about this, aren't we breaking and entering?" Jackson asked nervously. I stopped, sensing that he was extremely uncomfortable with my sneaking around a stranger's property.

"You're right. We'll just protect it from outside the gate." I knelt to the ground and began collecting small rocks.

"What do you mean?" Jackson knelt beside me. "What are you _doing_?"

I stopped picking up rocks and sighed.

"I'm a witch Jackson, and I'm protecting this boy because I have reason to believe he's in trouble. I'm sorry, I can't tell you anything more than that."

"Protecting him? With what, rocks?"

"Watch." I began tossing the rocks onto the ground in a seemingly random fashion. I counted to seven in Old English as I did, tossing the rocks in their corresponding places.

"Take two steps to the left for me?" I asked him, gently pushing on his stomach, shooing him out of my way.

"Hex, what are you doing?" Jackson moved where I guided him. I stepped back and cast the last stone, making a perfect circle.

"Making a ward. It's not going to be perfect, but it'll keep any vampires out until I can come back tomorrow with a couple amulets."

"Amulets?" Jackson swallowed hard. "I'm really confused. Hex, will you please explain to me what is going on?" He looked pale and frightened. I put a hand on his shoulder, and he flinched away.

"Look, right now, I'm just trying to do my job. I can't tell you everything, it could be dangerous, but I'll do my best. You're just going to have to trust me."

"Aren't you a little tired to be casting spells though?"

Actually, I didn't feel tired at all at the moment. The adrenaline from finding this boy was running high through my veins, keeping me alert enough to perform the spell.

"Just stand back okay?" I said. He did so.

I walked around the circle once, muttering the first line of the incantation and pulling a safety pin from my cardigan.

_Oh Hecate, protect this Lost boy from those who wish him harm_

I walked along the circle for the second time, speaking the next line.

_Who come in the night, red minds and teeth, let them not pass this line, it is drawn in your name, as is the blood here now. _

I forced the pin into my index finger and winced, pushing it deeper, letting the blood flow freely from the wound until it dripped on the ground. I walked the circle a third time, making a drop of blood fall on every stone and whispering the final line of the spell.

_Goddess by your power I cast the demons from this house and barricade their way back. Let your might encircle this dwelling and protect those within. This in Goddess' name, let blood flow over the damned and bring Unity to the wise. _

I felt the power leave my hands, blue Magic that ignited the blood and set the stones ablaze. The light dimmed and faded away until all that was left was a circle of ash that I rubbed out with my shoe.

Jackson was staring at me, open mouthed and white as a sheet.

"Come on." I went to take his hand, but he pulled away quickly, as if I had some horrible contagious disease. "Take me home Jackson." I said quietly before going to sit in the car.

The drive home was long and silent. Jackson kept his eyes on the road, not looking over at me once the entire trip. I sat in uncomfortable silence, waiting for someone to break the spell, trying to think of a good way to start. My crush on Jackson was all but abandoned, there was no way he'd ever like me after everything today. Between the tears and my mysterious witchcraft, I doubted he'd ever speak to me again. I spoke only to tell him where to turn, until we pulled up at my drive.

I clicked the door open and climbed out, swinging my schoolbag across my shoulder. I was unfastening the bolt on the gate when I heard Jackson's door close. He stood beside me as I swung the gate open.

"I don't know anything about monsters. I suppose Holt does, but I have no clue. All I know is what I've read in books, and they don't often praise witches in history books." His expression was pained.

"I know. I wish I could say that stuff was just a bunch of lies, but it's fairly accurate. I come from dark origins. Before the Council, witches practiced all kinds of Black Magic, stuff that isn't allowed at all these days. I can't tell you anything about witch society, you'll have to trust me and know that I would never, ever do anything to hurt you. I can't tell you why I need that boy, but I promise, I have no malicious intent. That has to be good enough."

I held his gaze, trying to help him understand that which I could never tell him. His eyes softened slightly and he relaxed his tense shoulders.

"I'll try. The rules of Monster Society are really difficult for me, but I'll try." He turned and got back into his car. I waved goodbye and headed towards the house.

I began to feel the weight of the day's events during my metalwork lesson with Grandma.

"Careful Hex, you're adding too much angelica." She chirped as I poured almost twice as much of the dried green leaves into my cauldron as was necessary. We were practicing with a protective ward disk tonight, which was good, because I definitely couldn't handle curses in my current mental state. I told Grandma everything that had happened after school, that I'd found the boy with a locating spell, followed him to his house and cast a protective charm around the house. I explained my plan to go back tomorrow to bury wards in the yard and make the charm stronger, adding a few if I needed to.

My cauldron hissed as it was heated, the liquid aluminum inside sloshed up the sides and released white steam.

"So what's a protective disk exactly?" I asked my Grandmother, keeping an eye on the pot. "We've never used one before."

"No, you're right. A disk is a ward that doesn't have any precious stones in it. They're easier to make, but they aren't as powerful. Still effective, but you'll need to bury it close to the house; it won't cover the entire yard. It's going to have a different shape too, like a discus rather than an amulet."

"Oh, I see." I examined _Wïr of Wiccecraeft _carefully and measured out the appropriate amount of bay root, chopped it up into quarts and plopped it into the cauldron, watching the potion's colour change from silver to dark grey.

"Do you remember why we're using aluminum as our base?" Grandma asked.

"Aluminum is a protective metal, it repels dark spirits and can be easily focused on one cause, making it a common base for protective wards and disks." I quoted. "Aluminum has a few other properties that make it desirable to witches, but for the purpose of protection, it is best used when mixed with other protective charms, like those naturally found in the plant angelica." I'd spent a lot of time reading when I couldn't sleep the night before.

"Very good Hex." She nodded, impressed. "Now add some heat and blend it all together."

I concentrated, and waved my hand over the fire pit of the cauldron; green fire appeared under it, slowly changing the colour of the potion to a warm auburn. Grandma disappeared into the back room, where the darker ingredients are kept, and reemerged with an ancient jar, filled with large yellowed objects. Some yellow dust lay at the bottom of the jar. She twisted held the jar at arms length, twisted the top off and extended it towards me. I took the jar and plucked one of the yellow things out with a pair of steel tongs. I brought it up to the light for inspection. It was about three centimeters long and its dry, cracked surface came together at one end in a sharp point. My stomach flip-flopped as I realized what it was.

"Won't it count as a personal item?"

"No. It is much too old. The vampire who gave this died millennia ago. There will still be venom inside it, so be careful."

I placed the tooth carefully on my slate and picked up a heavy pounder. Making sure that I was supposed to, I brought the pounder down hard on the tooth, hearing it crack under its weight. I crushed it into a fine powder and brushed it into the potion with my tongs, careful not to let it touch my skin. Vampire venom was extremely corrosive, even as old as this was. It would burn through my flesh in a moment if I let it. The only reason it didn't tear through the table was because of its iron counter top. Iron is Earth metal; meaning it is magically neutral. This makes it great for building workspaces, but almost useless in practice.

Immediately the potion hissed and turned a dark matte grey color. It was thick and opaque as I poured it into an iron cast. The cast was circular and slightly wider in the centre than on the outsides. I closed the cover and locked it shut. The metal would cool overnight and be ready to be used in the morning.

I yawned wide and slumped up the stairs out of the basement, dragging my heels along the floor as I collapsed onto my bed, asleep in a second.

The morning came much too soon; I slept in and was forced to take one fast shower before drying my hair and putting makeup on. Once my hair was done, I threw on a pair of acid wash jeans and my Stones t-shirt, heading down stairs for breakfast. Grandma was waiting in the kitchen, holding the heavy iron cast. She cracked the seal and revealed my disk, which was completely cooled and beautifully engraved with the outline of a rose. The rose had come from the cast – all of our iron casts bore the black rose engraving – and was only visible under direct light.

"It looks great." I said between bites of cereal. "Is it ready?"

"Yes." Grandma traced the rose with an orange fingernail. "You need to bury it close to the house. It only has a one kilometer radius of power."

"I know." I took it from her and placed it gently into my enchanted schoolbag. "I'll go after school today."

"Oh goddess," I remembered suddenly. "The car! I totally forgot. It's in the school parking lot. Can you give me a ride to school, and I'll drive to Salem this afternoon?" I checked the clock.

"Sure thing. Can you be ready to go in thirty minutes?"

"Yeah. I just have to brush my teeth."

Draculara greeted me with an excited smile when Grandma dropped me off.

"Ghostly Gossip says you and Jackson were seen hanging out after school yesterday."

"What? Who told you that? What's Ghostly Gossip?" I asked, taken aback.

"It's Spectra's blog silly!" Draculara waved a hand impatiently. "It's like, the key to all Monster High drama! Anyway, Spectra posted this picture yesterday just after the final bell." She showed me a photo on her iCoffin of a disheveled dark-haired girl who sat in Jackson's passenger seat as he started the ignition. I winced.

"Yeah that's me. But it was nothing. He drove me home, no biggie. It's why Grandma dropped me off just now." We arrived at the locker hallway. "Has everyone seen this blog?"

"Any monster who's anybody tracks Spectra's blog. I told you it's essential."

I groaned. "Fine. Just, if anybody asks, nothing happened. I doubt anything ever will." I added grouchily.

"Hex! You're totally crushing on Jackson!" Draculara grinned. "This is perfect, Clawd and I are always looking for new couples to double date, and you two could come to the party together!"

"Could you be any more obvious Lara?" I hissed. "He doesn't like me."

"Um, has he met you?" Draculara scoffed. "You're all any guy's been talking about all week! Of course he likes you!"

"I don't think so." I thought about the way he'd cringed away from my touch yesterday.

"Well we'll just have to see about that then. You're coming tomorrow right? I'm pretty sure the guest list has tripled since Spectra announced you'd be attending."

"What? Spectra announced that? On her blog?"

"Totally. It's done wonders for the party! She must have overheard us talking the other day. Anyway, you've just got to be there! It's going to be a real scare." She pushed out her bottom lip.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Fangtastic!" She brightened again. "See you at break okay? I've got double Home Ick now."

"Sure. Have fun." I smiled and waved my fingers before heading to double Potions.

Professor Geist handed out white flashcards to everyone as they came in. Mine had a large number 473 written in black ink on the back.

"If you'll all take your seats in front of the desk labeled with the same number as your card, we'll begin." Geist began.

I sat, observing the equipment in front of me. A black pewter cauldron, six test tubes, two large knives and at least a dozen jars of ingredients.

"Open your texts to the page number indicated on your card, and do your best to brew the potion described there. All the materials you'll need are provided for you, and you will be required to hand in a singe flask of your final product in to me for evaluation."

I flipped open by textbook, discovering that I was to brew a potion to cure boils. Easily enough I lit my fire and boiled three horned slugs, making sure to remove them from the fire when they began to turn a vivid green.

Geist circled the room, observing us. I didn't know what the other kids were making, but it didn't appear to be going very well for all of them. One girl had already burnt her hand starting a fire.

"Boiling them alive Miss Harmon?" Geist eyed me suspiciously. I looked up from the instructions and nodded.

"Fresh ingredients always lend the best results." I said simply, not feeling any remorse for the slimy insect as I plopped it back into the cauldron after emptying the water. "It's not as if it can survive anyway."

A few of the students looked up at me, including the one who'd hurt her hand, a faint look of fear in her eyes. "That's inhumane." She muttered.

"I agree." I looked her straight in the face. "But I'm not human so what do I care?" I continued to work.

I lay six snake fangs out on my worktable, crushing them with the flat side of my knife and adding the resulting powder to my mixture, turning it a dark navy. I tossed a couple dried nettles into the cauldron as well and took it off the heat, letting it cool for a moment before adding three porcupine quills. The potion steamed and turned a brilliant blue. Taking care not to spill a drop, I filled a flask and corked it, handing it to Professor Geist, who looked thoroughly surprised to see me finish. He nodded and dismissed me from class once I finished cleaning my station.

"Don't even think about showing up to Clawd's party tomorrow _normie_." A voice growled as I left the classroom.

"Draculara invited me personally Manny, of course I'm going." I turned a corner and saw Jackson at the end of the hallway, a huge boy with creamy white horns hulking over him. I stood silently and watched as the large boy breathed hard through his nose, exhaling steam.

"You don't belong there. How can you even think about going? You're a _normie, _you don't fit in."

Jackson scowled and set his jaw, looking the bully in the eye. "She invited me."

"She feels sorry for you, because she knows just how pathetic you are." Manny laughed cruelly.

"Is there a problem here boys?" I interjected as the bell rang and the halls slowly filled with monsters.

The Minotaur glared at me. "Move along witch. You're unwanted here." He spat.

"Hey don't talk to her like that!" Jackson looked as if he wanted to hit Manny, which was flattering, but nerve racking.

"I'm afraid I can't 'move along,' I'm not here to break up your little fight, I'm actually here to ask Jackson to Draculara's party." I watched his eyes soften and travel longingly down my body.

Jackson raised one eyebrow and smirked at Manny. "Well imagine that. Not only am I going to the party tomorrow, but I'm going with Hex Harmon. Funny how that worked out."

Manny looked ready to rip Jackson apart.

"You filthy little human. There's no way Hex is going with you out of her own choice. Your mom probably paid her off. Or maybe she's just a little slut." He spat at my feet.

Jackson lunged, pushing me aside and landing on top of the Minotaur. A crowd gathered around and several cameras went off. The two boys tussled on the floor for a minute, me standing awkwardly off to the side, trying to find a way to stop the violence.

"Don't you ever speak to Hex like that again Manny, I'm serious." Jackson growled. Manny threw him off and stood, they two of them glaring at each other until Manny lunged, striking Jackson hard across the face. The sight of his crooked nose and bloody cheek helped me remember myself.

Manny froze just before his second blow could reach Jackson's mouth. I stepped between the two boys, snapped my fingers and let Manny move, pushing him backwards and giving him my best smoldering glare.

"Not one step closer Manny." I hissed.

"Oh really witch? What're you going to do about it?" He stepped closer until I had to look up to meet his eyes. I put one hand on my hip and raised the other beside his face. Not breaking eye contact, I wiggled my fingers and let a slow smile cross my lips.

"Let's find out shall we?"

The bully's eyes shifted to my raised hand and his face paled. He sucked in his cheeks and tried to look undisturbed. "You wouldn't dare."

I concentrated and made Magic crack like lightning along my fingertips, warming my hand and reflecting off the sweat on Manny's face. "Try me."

The Minotaur exhaled sharply and backed down, shooting Jackson one last look before turning to leave.

I turned and looked at Jackson, letting the energy in my palm die and ignoring the awed crowd.

"Jackson? Come on, I'll help you get cleaned up."

"I'm fine Hex, don't worry about me." He avoided my eyes and wiped his nose with his sleeve, smearing blood on his face.

"Please let me help you, I think you might have a broken nose." I pleaded. His brown eyes looked smoky and sad. "Come with me." I took his hand and led him to the closest girls washroom.

"I can't go in there."

"It's empty." I said, swinging the door open to reveal a vacant lavatory. "Sit." I directed him to sit on the counter so that I could examine his face.

His nose was swollen and crooked, and he had a pretty bad split lip, but other than that, he seemed to be okay. He didn't appear to have a concussion, which was my main concern.

"It's definitely broken." I said, tilting his chin up to the light. "I can fix it for you, if you like." I met his eyes. "Jackson look, I'm really sorry. I'm sorry about everything. About yesterday, and just now, I shouldn't have gotten involved."

He put a warm hand on top of my trembling one, making it still. "Don't apologize, you were trying to help. And I'm sorry that I freaked yesterday. I've never met…you know…a witch before; I was just a little unsure what to expect. I get that you can't tell me everything, and I totally respect that. No hard feelings?"

I smiled, wiping away a spot of blood below his left eye. "None at all." We stayed like that for a minute, each looking the other in the eyes, his right hand still on mine, the other moved up and cupped my face. I felt my cheeks grow hot but I leaned into his touch anyway. He looked surprisingly happy for a guy hiding in a girl's toilet with a broken nose. His hand moved under my chin, tilting is slightly up and moving his mouth closer to mine. We were an inch apart, my lips tingling with energy as he drew nearer and the bell rang, startling us both and breaking the spell. Jackson turned a bright shade of magenta and looked away. I blushed too, but focused on the job at hand.

"I can fix it if you like, or we can go to the nurse. But I'll be much quicker and less painful. It's your choice."

"You do it." He said, meeting my eyes again. "I trust you."

I smirked and put my two index fingers on either side of his swollen nose, being careful not to apply too much pressure. "Ready?"

He braced himself and squeezed his hands into tight fists. "Yeah. Do it."

I felt my hands grow warm against his skin and willed the building energy to move from my fingers to his nose. Blowing a soft breath over his face, I imagined his nose the way it was before the fight, concentrated, feeling a small click under the pads on my fingertips as the bones realigned themselves. Jackson winced from pain.

"Sorry. Are you okay? You're all straightened out now." I waved my hand over him and the blood vanished off his face and clothes. I ran a hand through his dark hair, fluffing it up a bit. "There. Good as new. Have a look then, go on."

He turned and looked in the mirror behind him, touching his face and tracing along the sides of his perfectly straight nose. "That's incredible Hex, thanks." He smiled and hopped down from the countertop.

"Anytime." I held the door open for him to pass through. "I have Dead Languages now, I'll see you later?"

"Sure thing." He turned to go, but changed his mind, grinning a devilish grin. "I'll pick you up tomorrow at eight then?"

"What?" I asked, confused.

"For Clawd's party. I'll pick you up at eight."

I smiled and nodded, blushing slightly. "Only if you want to…"

"Just try and wear something nice okay?" He teased.

"I'll see what I can find." I tried to act nonchalant, but my heart was dancing the can-can.

"Cool. See you later Hex." He called out as he strolled down the hall to his next class.

"See you." I whispered after him.

"Hex!" Draculara swooped down on me as I sat down for another Zombie-speak lecture. "It's all over Ghostly Gossip! Did Manny and Jackson really fight over you?"

"Er, not really. They fought, for only a minute, and I broke it up. No harm done."

"Oh." She looked disappointed. "What were they fighting about? Here, look at the photos." She passed me her iCoffin, the screen displaying a picture of the two boys rolling on the floor, Jackson on top of Manny. The next was a picture of a broken, bloody Jackson glaring past me at Manny, who wore an expression of fear. I looked fierce and cold, my entire body language screamed 'piss off' and white light shone from my right hand.

"Manny spat at me. Wow who took these?"

"He _what_?" Draculara's pencil snapped. "Oh my god Hex! That's terrible! No wonder Jackson stepped in. Oooh it's so romantic!" She swooned.

"Yeah I guess." I handed her back the phone. "He's taking me to your party tomorrow."

Draculara looked as if she might explode into confetti. "Truly? You like him! And he likes you, oh my ghoul this is just so incredible! Too bad about Deuce though, I know he really wanted to take you. Don't worry, I'll let him know you've changed plans."

I scoffed. "He really wanted to take me?" Maybe if he hadn't been such a jerk, I'd have let him. A small part of me itched to know what was hidden under his mirrored red sunglasses in spite of myself.

"Oh definitely. I think the only boy who didn't was Clawd! You should hear Clawdeen complain, ha!"

"Er, why is Clawdeen upset?"

"Oh she's just jealous." Draculara giggled. "She's totally boy-crazy, so when they all started talking about _you_ and not her… well she was less than impressed. Don't worry though!" She saw my expression. "No, it'll pass over, I think. The boys will go back to being dumb and Clawdeen will be satisfied. No doubt about it." She pulled a new pencil out of her bag and prattled on about planning double dates for Jackson and I while I tried to choose which conversation was least interesting; the history of Zombie, or the most couple-friendly restaurants in town.

It took me an hour after school to find the boy's house in Salem. I kept making wrong turns off the highway in an effort to find the sneaky little driveway that led to the big red house. I unlocked the gate easily and slipped in the yard, staying in the shadows to avoid being seen. Luckily, the days were becoming shorter, so at four o'clock, the sky was dark enough for me to travel across the property without much bushwhacking. I plucked twelve stones from the garden and made my way towards the building.

I crouched under a great big window on the south side of the house. A heavy yellow curtain covered the glass on the inside, but I could see that a light was on, which would create a Hex shaped shadow on the window if I stood up. It didn't matter though; the room was likely a living room or dining hall, I could bury the disk here and it would protect the entire building. I dug a deep hole as quickly as I could and placed the disk inside, hiding its location with earth and stones. I placed the first of my twelve rocks directly over its centre and tip toed around the entire estate, placing the rocks in key points, making a perfect circle around the home.

_"Hecate protects this place." _I murmured as I placed my hand over the final stone, sending a jolt of Magic into the earth. I felt it connect the circle into one shimmering silver hoop underground, then as silently as I arrived, I was gone.

I made it home late, and took my dinner up to bed with me. Grandma was already asleep when I arrived, and I woke her to let her know I was safe.

"The disk is buried, the circle is drawn. Tomorrow I have Draculara's party, but I'll keep tracking the boy. They can't get to him at home, but if they get desperate, they might make an ambush at school. I'll skip class on Monday and go there."

"Goodnight dear." Grandma mumbled, rolling into her pillow and snoring loudly. I smiled.

"Night Grandma."


	11. Lost and Found

**Authors Note:**

**Hey guys! Thanks so much for all your support this far. I've been busy with exams and stuff so that's why I've been kind of absent on here, but now I'm back! And I'm ready to rumble:) So Rate and Review, even if you hate it, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Same goes if you have any questions, if something doesn't quite add up, I'd love to clarify. It's totally a possibility that I forgot to mention something, so don't be shy! Love you guys and thanks again for your support! Lets continue with the story shall we?**

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I made an impromptu decision the next morning to cut class and visit the mortal high school. I figured I needed to gather as much information on they boy as I could. I couldn't even recognize his face, let alone his name, and keeping him safe from some crazy vampires was going to require some insight knowledge of the kid's behavior. I needed to know who his friends were, where he went after school, what kind of people he surrounded himself with and most of all, whether he had any siblings. A brother or sister would likely have the same dilution of witch blood, and would need equal protection from the rogue vampires.

I arrived at the school early, knowing my only chance of pinpointing the boy was to use what I already knew about him, that was, the make and model of his car. When the blue sedan pulled into the lot, I was ready with my iCoffin to record his face. I snapped a few photos of him as he got out of his car, and then stopped to really take in his appearance.

He was undoubtedly attractive, in the same eerie way that most witches were, now that I could see his face, I could practically feel the Magic coming off him. How could he be so oblivious? He had short, wavy blond hair and an even olive complexion. I hopped out of my car and followed him into the school. He was well built, but not hulky, he had the lean, strong muscles of a swimmer, or a long distance runner, not a football player. He walked with confidence, his faded jeans just clinging to his hips and his gray hoodie open. He probably had to beat the girls off with sticks. I followed him through the foyer into the gym and watched as he met up with the group from the other day. A boy with dark brown hair and a shy smile, a girl with a goofy grin and a million freckles, whose tight, strawberry blonde curls reached her waist. There was a somber looking girl with an angular purple bob wearing red and purple striped tights. The gloomy girl was standing next to a boy with chocolate skin and a letterman jacket. The jock was trying to interest her in some weird knot he'd managed to tie, but she just rolled her eyes and shrugged him off, looking exhausted. Not wanting to draw attention to myself, I left the gym and searched the school for the administrative office.

A dumpy woman with gray hair and wrinkled eyes worked in the office. She looked up when I came in and smiled kindly, reminding me of my grandmother. A plaque on her desk read, 'Ms. Liza Davies.'

"What can I do for you dear?" She pulled a little glass bowl full of caramels out from her desk and popped one into her mouth. She offered me one, but I refused.

"I'm new to this city, and I'm thinking of coming to school here. Is it okay if I sit in on a few classes today to get the feel of this place?" I lied smoothly.

"Of course dear." She smacked her lips. "I'll just write you up a guest pass. Where are you moving from?"

"Redbridge? It's just outside of London." I gave the current name of my hometown.

"How nice." She hummed while she made the pass. "What did you say your name was hun?"

"Audrey Whitman." I pulled the identity out of thin air. "My parents are helping with the movers." I gave her what I hoped was an innocent smile. Liza handed me a little card in a laminated slipcover and a blue lanyard. "Thanks." I strung it around my neck.

"Er, I just have a few questions before I go. How many students about do you have here?"

The secretary tilted her head from side to side and thought for a second. "About twelve hundred students. We're a fairly small community here."

"Years 10 to 12?"

"Yes."

"One more thing?" I asked. "Can I have a schedule of the Grade 12 classes today?"

"Oh of course! Silly me, it completely slipped my mind." She pulled out a sheet of paper from her desk and began highlighting. "I swear, I'm getting older all the time, I'd forget my head if it wasn't attached to my shoulders." She smiled sweetly and handed me the schedule. "The pink ones are the courses mandatory for all Grade 12 students, the blue are electives. Have fun dear!" She waved as I thanked her and left.

The morning bell rang loudly, the halls completely empty, my footsteps squeaking against the hall floor. I examined the schedule, not recognizing a single thing on the list. Calculus? Chemistry? Woodshop? None of these classes were familiar, and there were so many! With at least four electives per timeslot, how was I to know which one my guy was taking? I decided to hang around the halls until the kids were let out of their first class. I knew there was no chance I could find the right blond head amongst 1200 students, but I was hoping I wouldn't need to. How many purple heads could there be in this school? I was praying the gloomy girl would lead me to what I wanted to find. The bell rang, and the halls almost immediately filled with kids. I searched the crowd for purple hair, moving quickly up and down hallways as I did so; it was only once I reached the second floor that I saw her ducking into a classroom followed by the heavy jock. Excitedly, I slipped in just before the door closed.

There weren't that many kids inside, about fifteen boys and girls sitting in single file. The purple haired girl and her boyfriend sat in the back, beside the wall. I looked around at the mortal kids, and took a seat behind the jock. The teacher rapped on his desk with a yardstick to quiet the class. He started calling out names as I observed the classroom. Posters were hung on all of the walls, a cartoon depicting the human body, a list of colours, a large map, and the most peculiar, a poster with a list of numbers from one to one hundred.

"Mademoiselle?" A voice called out, snapping me back. I realized the entire class had turned to look at me. The teacher was looking at me expectantly. He consulted his notes, and dissatisfied, asked me once more. "Mademoiselle? What is your name?"

Suddenly the strange posters made sense, although I had never seen it taught like this, I knew exactly where I was.

"Pardon Monsieur, Je m'appelle Audrey." I explained in rapid French that I was a prospective student, and held up my guest pass to prove it. "Excusez mon interruption s'il vous plait." I apologized.

The teacher looked surprised, but pleased. "No problem, I am happy to have a student so dedicated to the French language for once. A little more notice next time would be appreciated. However, we are glad to have you Miss Audrey." He spoke in French.

"Damn." A boy said. I looked over at him and winked. I could practically hear his heartbeat accelerate. I'd forgotten how easily mortals were affected by me. The teacher smoothed his shirt and straightened his tie.

"Tout le monde, this is Aubrey. She is touring the school today, so let's all be as welcoming as possible. Perhaps you'd like me to assign a student to show you around?"

"Oh that's not necessary." I declined as every boy in the room shot his hand into the air. A few of the girls rolled their eyes, one even glared at me, but I only smiled.

"Okay then." The teacher assessed his notes. "Okay, so you all know, today is your final day to work on your projects, use this time wisely, they are due on Monday. Commencer!"

The class got into groups of three and started working on their projects. I joined purple bob and her boyfriend's group. There was another girl in their group with short blonde ponytails and pink lipstick. She made a face as I approached, but purple bob didn't react.

"Hello, Bonjour." I said, offering them a choice. The jock looked like he wanted to say something, but purple bob glared at him until he looked away. I rolled my eyes, grabbed an eraser and started rubbing out the verbs on their poster.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Ponytails shouted, standing up. I looked up at her.

"All of these verbs are in the wrong tense. They're supposed to be in the passé composé, you have them written in the present tense. And did you actually just stomp your foot? I thought mor-people only did that in movies."

Purple bob laughed as ponytails turned a bright shade of red, looking very much like she wanted to stomp her foot again, but thought better of it and resorted to storming off in a huff. I shrugged and finished erasing. Picking up a pencil, I re-wrote the verbs in the correct tense.

"There. Done." I stepped back and looked at the poster. It was actually a large comic strip, depicting a story about alligators in the sewer system. "This is really good art."

"Thanks." Purple bob stopped laughing. "Hey, that was pretty cool, what you did just now. I've wanted to tell Tanya off for a week now, but she's kind of the brain behind this whole project. I just do the drawings."

"Do you think she'll be angry?"

"Nah, she'll get over it. She's just not used to being out-smarted in this class. Her mom is from Quebec."

"Oh." I said, not really caring whether the mortal girl liked me or not, Tanya was hardly a problem.

"I'm Rebecca by the way, but my friends call me Beck. This is Derek." She gestured to the guy in the letterman. "He's my boyfriend." She said firmly. "He's kind of an egghead though."

"Hey! I'm not an egghead." Derek protested. He extended his arm to me, his dark hand swallowing my pale one. He blushed and pulled it back. Beck rolled her eyes.

"Get a grip Derek, you're embarrassing yourself." She smirked.

"Sorry." I said. "So, what class do you guys have next?"

"Chemistry." Beck made a face.

Derek groaned. "Did you get the rest of those questions done?" He ripped through his binder, searching frantically for his homework.

"Mmhm, they were easy." Beck laughed at her boyfriend's panic. I smiled too.

"Oh no! I must have left them on my desk at home! I can't find them anywhere!" He slumped his shoulders and made puppy dog eyes at Beck.

"No way! I gave you my answers to the last homework assignment."

"Please Beck? I did them, honest, I just forgot them at home." He whined.

"No. But I'll lend you my textbook, you can re-do them now, and I'll help. Is that fair?"

Derek looked up at the clock, and then at me. "I don't suppose you're as good at chemistry as you are at French?"

"Sorry, no." I held my hands up in surrender; trying to look like I knew what chemistry was, when really I had no clue. I sat awkwardly watching as Beck tried to explain to Derek how to convert from volume to moles.

The blond boy wasn't in chemistry, and Beck was too busy tutoring her boyfriend to socialize so I had to settle for listening as the mortal teacher explained all about dilutions and solutions. It turned out; I was pretty good at chemistry. I was totally lost in all the vocabulary, but the concepts were the same as potions. Of course, the mixtures made in this class wouldn't be able to cure boils or cause memory loss, but to the mortals, they unlocked the universe. I wondered if chemistry was a branch of ancient witchcraft, if mortals had somehow adapted this science from our original magic and I wondered exactly how far down the path of human progress the Magic was lost. There certainly was no such thing as a Periodic Table when I was growing up. Hell, when I was a child, mortals still thought that the world consisted of only four elements: air, earth, fire and water. I listened intently to the teacher, fascinated and amused to learn about all that mankind had accomplished while still remaining so ignorant.

Kids started to pack up their books, a low murmur of chatter rising in the few minutes before the bell ended class. Derek glanced up at me, jammed his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans and smiled sheepishly.

"So, we get a break now before our next class. Do you want to come, I dunno shoot hoops or something with us?" He said, not making eye contact.

"She doesn't want to play basketball with you Derek." Beck came over to where we were standing and rolled her eyes at him. "I mean just look at her." She gestured to my outfit. I frowned slightly, but agreed. My skinny purple jeans and black pumps wouldn't serve well on the basketball court.

"Come on, let's go meet up with the others. Make a plan for lunch." She took his hand and started walking away, turning towards me as the bell rang. "Well come on then."

Beck led us through the hallways, maneuvering the sea of teenagers with surprising ease for such a tiny girl. I followed close behind her, ignoring the stares and whispers that greeted me at every turn. Someone whistled as I passed by and I smiled, gaining confidence with every step. Finally, we reached the senior locker hall, which was practically empty; a group of girls stood around one of the open lockers and taller boy with thick brown hair leaned against the lockers, clearly excluded from the huddle. One of the girls broke from the group and ran over to Beck, bouncing her long strawberry blonde ringlets and stretching her freckled cheeks into a grin as she did so. I recognized her from this morning.

"Hey Maj, what's up?" Beck smiled slightly.

"Oh nothing new, just trying to get Emmet to fall hopelessly in love with me. It's not going so well." She smiled at me. "Hi! I'm Majorie, but you can call me Maj, everyone does. Are you a new student here? I love your hair, how do you get it to stay like that? Mine's impossible." She tugged on a few curls, trying to press them flat with her fingers.

"Er, I'm a prospective student. I'm here really just to test the waters." I said passively, looking past her icy blue eyes at the cluster of girls that was surrounding the open locker. There must have been at least five or six of them there, all chattering to one another.

"Hey Cain, get over here and meet…" Majorie looked at me apologetically. "I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"

"Audrey."

"Audrey. Cain meet Audrey, she's new." Maj looked expectantly at the dark haired boy until he joined us. Cain looked up at me and shuffled his feet, a red flush rose on his neck as he introduced himself. He looked back at his sneakers and remained fascinated by them while Majorie rambled on about what she was planning on wearing to the Sadie Hawkins dance, whatever that was.

"Don't you think it will be fun Beck? Getting all dressed up, asking a boy for once, I can't wait!"

Derek laughed. "You're crazy Maj. Beck hasn't even asked me to go with her yet, she says it's a mockery of women's rights or something like that."

"It is!" Beck proclaimed. "You get one dance a year, one night really to choose your own date, and suddenly its like there's no such thing as sexism. I mean really, one dance is so not evening the playing field. Do you know that women still make 70cents to every dollar men make working the same job? Sadie Hawkins my foot." She scowled, but her friends just laughed.

I was beginning to feel as if this whole day had been a waste of time when Beck spoke again.

"Like check out Emmet over there." She gestured to the flock of girls, "He's got his pick of the lot, even though they're the ones asking him, he still gets to choose one to take."

My ears pricked up. I focused on the girls and saw that one, the one standing right up against the locker, with her face tucked inside, was not a girl, but a boy with short, wavy blond hair and a gray hoodie.


End file.
